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the armenian 
Crisis in Turkey 

THE MASSACRE OF 1894, ITS ANTECEDENTS 
AND SIGNIFICANCE 



WITH A CONSIDERATION OF SOME OF THE FACTORS 

WHICH ENTER INTO THE SOLUTION OF THIS 

PHASE OF THE EASTERN QUESTION 



BY 



FREDERICK DAVIS GREENE, M.A. 

1 1 ' 

FOR SEVERAL YEARS A RESIDENT 
IN ARMENIA 



Qn^uw^iMMintnnL. £&*/.£ x — fr/W fcU 7/ ^U8P^ 



WITH INTRODUCTION BY REV. JOSIAH STRONG, D.D. 

AUTHOR OF " OUR COUNTRY," " THE NEW ERA," ETC. 



G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

NEW YORK LONDON 

27 WEST TWENTY-THIRD ST. 24 BEDFORD ST., STRAND 




S^e Sratherfcochw $«ss 
1895 



Copyright, 1895 

BY 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
Entered at Stationers' Hall, London 







r^ 



"Cbe ftnicfcerbocfeer press, iRew J^orh 



TO THE MEMORY 
OF THE 

VICTIMS OF THE SASSOUN MASS.V RE 
1894 

I DEDICATE 

THIS APPEAL TO THE CIVILIZED WORLD 

IN BEHALF OF THEIR RACE AND OF ALL THE 

RACKS IN TURKEY 



m 



INTRODUCTION. 

THIS is an important book. It deals with a 
burning question, and in a way which will 
command public attention and public confi- 
dence. 

The author is thoroughly equipped for his task. 
Birth, residence, and travel in Turkey have made 
him personally acquainted with the situation which 
he discusses, and the independence of his position 
enables him to write without restraint and without 
prejudice. After nearly four years of service as a 
missionary of the American Board in Van, the centre 
of Armenia, during which no criticism of his course 
was ever made either by the Board or by the Turk- 
ish Government, he was recently ordered by his 
physician to return to America. Having resigned 
his connection with the American Board, he writes 
as the representative of no society, religious or po- 
litical, and is connected with none. In issuing this 
book he is simply discharging what to him is a 
personal and unavoidable obligation ; and as he 
frankly avows its authorship, it will be impossible 
for the Turkish Government to hold any one else 
responsible for it. 

The author shows that the case of the subject 
races in the Ottoman Empire is desperate, that there 
is no hope of reform from within, and that relief 



vi Introduction, 

must therefore come through the interference of the 
powers of Europe. Their action depends largely on 
the support of the public. "Public opinion" there- 
fore, " must be brought to bear upon this case" as Mr. 
Gladstone said in the House of Commons six years 
ago. Since then there has been added a new chap- 
ter of horrors, and the demand for decisive action in 
the name of our common humanity has become 
more urgent. The facts furnished bv this book 
ought to arouse such public opinion as will justify 
and compel prompt and efficient action on the part 
of the Powers. 

The United States need not depart from its long- 
established foreign policy, but is bound to protect 
its own honor and the lives and property of its 
citizens. 

Josiah Strong. 

New York, March i, 1S95. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I. A CHAPTER OF HORRORS .... I 

Certified Evidence of the Armenian Massacre, Preceded 
by an Endorsement of the Evidence, with Signatures 
in Fac-simile, and an Explanatory Note. 

II. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT EASTERN TUR- 
KEY 43 

The Physical Aspects, Inhabitants, and Administration 
of the Country. 

III. THE CHRONIC CONDITION OF ARMENIA AND 

KURDISTAN . . . . . -54 

Specific and Detailed Instances of Kurdish Plunder 
and Oppression. — The Turkish System of Taxation and 
its Abuses. — Why these Facts are so little Known. — 
What can be Done to Improve the Situation. 

IV. — OTTOMAN PROMISES AND THEIR FULFILMENT. 
The Treaty of Adrianople, 1S29. — The Hatti Sherif, 
1839. — Pledge of 1544. — Protestant Charter, 1S50. — 
Hatti Humayoun. 1856. — Anglo-Turkish Convention, 
1S7S. — Treaty of Berlin, 1878. 

V. THE OUTCOME OF THE TREATY OF BERLIN . 76 

British Naval Demonstration, 1 5 79. — The Identical 
N :e of the Powers, iSSo, and the Turkish Reply. — 
The Collective Note of the Powers, and the Aggre- 
Response of the Sublime Porte. — The Circular of Great 
Britain, 1SS1, its Cool Reception by the Powers, and 
the Indefinite Postponement of Turkish Reforms. — 
The Effect of the Berlin Treaty in Arousing Armenian 
Aspirations and Increasing Turkish Oppression. — Ar- 
menian Revolution a Nightmare of the Turks. — The 

vii 



viii Contents. 

CHAPTER PAGE 

Real Armenian Position. — The Only Treatment for the 
" Sick Man" a Surgical One. 

VI. THE SULTAN AND THE SUBLIME PORTE . 87 

The Demands of his Office as Sultan-Calif. — Justice 
to Christian and Moslem both Impossible. — Status of 
non-Mohammedans. — The Palace and the Porte. — A 
House Divided against Itself. 

VII. PREVIOUS ACTS OF THE TURKISH TRAGEDY, 95 

The Massacres of Greeks, 1822 ; Nestorians, 1850 ; Syri- 
ans, i860; Cretans, 1867; Bulgarians, 1876 ; Yezidis, 
1892 ; Armenians, 1894. 

VIII. ISLAM AS A FACTOR OF THE PROBLEM . IIO 

A Politico-Religious System. — Indissoluble and Incapa- 
ble of Modification. — The Military, Civil, and Legal 
Rights of non-Mohammedans. — Freeman's Conclusion. 

IX. GLADSTONE ON THE ARMENIAN MASSACRE 

AND ON TURKISH MISRULE . . .121 

X. WHO ARE THE ARMENIANS? . . * . 131 

Their Origin, History, Church, Language, Literature, 
and General Characteristics. 

XI. AMERICANS IN TURKEY, THEIR WORK AND 

INFLUENCE ...... 147 

Their Attitude and Recognized Position. — Statistics of 
the Direct Results of their Efforts. — Their Indirect In- 
fluence on All Classes. — The Present Threatening Atti- 
tude of the Turkish Government. 

Appendix A. — a bit of American diplomacy . 157 
B. — establishment of u. s. consulates 

IN EASTERN TURKEY . . . 163 

C. — dr. cyrus hamlin's explanation . 167 

d. the censorship of the press . 1 69 

e. bibliography of the subject . 171 

General Index . . . . . . 175 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



kurdish sheikhs Frontispiece 

FAC-SIMILE OF SIGNATURES .... 2 and 4 

VICTIMS OF TURKISH TAXATION . IO 

REVIEW OF KURDISH CAVALRY 

NAREG : ANCIENT CHURCH AND MODERN HOVELS 

ARMENIAN GIRLS OF VAN 

A KURD OF THE OLD TYPE 

RUINED KURDISH CASTLE AT KHOSHAB 

MINAS TCHERAZ . . ... 

ZEIBEK "IRREGULAR" 

TURKISH SOLDIER, " REGULAR" 

H. I. M. SULTAN ABD-UL-HAMID KHAN 

HIGHWAY IN ARMENIA 

ARMENIAN REBELS WHO WOULD NOT PAY TAXES 

KURDISH HAMIDIEH SOLDIERS, EXECUTING THE 

" SWORD-DANCE " 

ANCIENT ARMENIAN TOMBSTONE 

THE CATHOLICOS OF ETCHMIADZIN . 

THE SUBORDINATE CATHOLICOS OF AGHTAMAR 

THE ISLAND MONASTERY OF AGHTAMAR . 

ARMENIAN FAMILY OF BITLIS .... 



!9 

29 

39 

47 

50 
80 

83 

85 

9i 

io 5 
120 

127 

i39 
141 

i45 
i5 2 



PREFACE. 



^-pHE writer has, from his birth, been a student 
of the Eastern Question, but makes no claim 
to having mastered it. What he has learned 
of the phases of that question here treated has been 
by absorption, observation, travel, residence, and 
investigation, in the land itself, and by study and 
reading in regard to it. The very short time allowed 
in the preparation of this humble contribution to the 
subject has necessitated a hasty and partial treat- 
ment at the expense of literary form. Some of the 
material of the second and third chapters and most 
of the illustrations in this book are reproduced from 
an article by the author in the American Review of 
Reviews for January, 1895, by the kind permission of 
the editor, Dr. Albert Shaw. No pains have been 
spared to insure accuracy. References to authori- 
ties have been given as far as possible, but in regard 
to much information from most reliable sources 
names must be withheld. It is a very significant 
feature of the situation in Turkey, that people who 
are thousands of miles away from her, and who may 
never set foot there again, do not dare to publicly 
state the facts, lest vengeance may be taken on 
their families and friends, still within reach of Turk- 



xi I Pi'eface. 

ish violence and intrigue. If His Imperial Majesty, 
the Sultan, but knew the real facts of the atrocious 
massacre of last year, and realized the disgrace attach- 
ing to the Turkish name on account of the unspeak- 
ably brutal deeds of his Turkish and Kurdish soldiers, 
officers included, we cannot but hope that some 
punishment would be visited upon them, experience 
to the contrary. He certainly should welcome the 
revelations of this book, and do all in his power to 
protect any who may aid him in bringing the facts 
to light and securing a better state of affairs. God 
help him, and save all his subjects, Turk, Arab, and 
Kurd, Christian, Jew, and Pagan, from the curse of a 
system of government not only " sick," but dead and 
rotting ! 

I preach no crusade ; none is needed. But it is 
high time for the conscience of Europe and America 
to assert itself — not simply the " non-Conformist 
conscience," but the Established, the Orthodox, the 
Catholic, the Agnostic, and the Infidel conscience, 
in fact the human conscience — against this crime 
upon humanity. If this conscience is once aroused, 
I care not what parties are in power, or how the 
game stands on the diplomatic chessboard, the 
Eastern Question will be settled, instead of forever 
threatening the peace of Europe, and one more blot 
will be wiped out from the annals of the world. 

I use the title The CRISIS IN TURKEY because 
there is a crisis in the history of one of her most 
important races ; there ought to be one throughout 
Turkey ; and there may be one in Europe if selfish- 
ness, jealousy, and duplicity are forever to stifle all 



Preface. xiii 

considerations of humanity, national honor, and— I 
blush to add it — of Christianity. 

In order to protect " British interests," for two- 
score years, not to say longer, has " Christian " 
England stood guard at the Sublime Porte, warn- 
ing all intruders away. With her hand on the door 
of the Turk's disorderly house, she has compla- 
cently informed the world that she in particular 
— as well as the other Powers — has secured prom- 
ises, and even guaranties, that all would go well. 
But all the while, Her Majesty's Ministers, of what- 
ever party, have heard the bitter and despairing 
cry of the poor wretches within. These Ministers 
have, since 1881, with rare exceptions, carefully 
suppressed in their archives the consular reports 
which have officially kept them informed of the real 
state of affairs. 1 And all the while, England's share 
of the profits of this partnership with the unspeak- 
able Turk has been steadily dropping into her over- 
flowing coffers. Was Cyprus nothing? Is the interest 
on Turkish bonds nothing ? Of course the creditor 

1 " I am at a loss to know why the Reports of Consuls ceased to be 
furnished in or about the year 1881. Consuls are supposed to keep 
their eyes open and to report facts regarding the people among whom 
they live, and it is altogether a new idea that their Reports are to be 
regarded as confidential documents. If they are to be so, that is 
simply condemning the Consuls' Reports to perpetual barrenness and 
absolute inutility. Why are not consular reports to be made, and 
being made, why are they not to be printed ? If in this respect I am 
personally, or anyone associated with me, is open to censure, let the 
facts be brought out ; but do not let a particular act at a particular 
time be confounded with the adoption of the principle of eternal 
silence about the horrors that prevail in Armenia." — Speech by the 
Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone, in House of Commons, May 28, 1889. 



xiv Preface, 

must have his due, even though it is extracted in 
blood-drops by a pressure that England and the 
other Powers help to maintain. 

A famous London divine recently preached a ser- 
mon in connection with the Armenian Massacre, using 
as a text Ezra ix., 3 : " And when I heard this thing, I 
rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the 
hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down 
astonied." May I suggest that it is high time to 
rouse oneself from mere astonishment, as did the 
Hebrew prophet ? If the eloquent preacher is at a 
loss for an appropriate text for another sermon to an 
English audience, he can find it in the sixth verse of 
the same chapter : " O my God, I am ashamed and 
blush to lift up my face to thee, my God : for our 
iniquities are increased over our head, and our tres- 
pass is grown up unto the heavens." 

The very well informed correspondent of The 
Speaker wrote from Constantinople two months ago : 
" I fear there can be no doubt about the essential 
facts. We have already the official reports of the 
consuls at Van, Erzeroom, Sivas, and Diarbekir, 
which have not yet been published, but which, we 
know, confirm the most horrible statements made in 
the newspapers. We have the reports of the Ar- 
menian refugees who were eye-witnesses. We have 
the reports sent to the Armenian Patriarchate here, 
and the reports of Catholic and Protestant mission- 
aries in the vicinity of Sasun. Beyond this, and most 
horrible of all, we have the testimony of the Turkish 
soldiers who took part in the massacres. These sol- 
diers ... have talked with the greatest freedom 



Preface. xV 

in public places, and to all who would listen, boasting 
of their deeds. We have full reports from all these 
places of the statements made by hundreds of these 
soldiers, and they agree in all essential points." 

The author does not ignore the repeated and 
earnest efforts that have been made for years, by 
such individual Englishmen as the Hon. James 
Bryce, to call attention to the condition of Armenia. 
Their protests have kept alive Armenian hope that 
England at least would not entirely repudiate her 
obligations. But the futility of these same protests 
has also given assurance to the Sublime Porte in 
carrying out its policy of repression and extermina- 
tion in Armenia. 

Of course neither the party in power, nor its suc- 
cessors, will proceed energetically unless assured of 
the support of the people whom they represent. As 
soon as there is sufficient pressure from behind some- 
thin^ more will be done than to dally with Turkish 
Commissions of Inquiry, sent under circumstances 
which make a true and full report simply a physical 
and moral impossibility. 2 The Turk is on trial and 
should be allowed to plead " Not Guilty." But it is 
not customary, in courts where justice is the object, 
to allow the criminal at the bar the privilege of act- 

1 The Speaker, London, January 12, 1895. 

2 " A good deal of misapprehension exists with respect to the con- 
stitutional the Commission of Inquiry. It is not an international but 
a Turkish Commission, and, to judge by past experience, Turkish 
Commissions are instruments by which truth is suppressed and issues 
are obscured. It is satisfactory that representatives of Great Britain, 
France, and Russia will have the opportunity of examining the proch- 
verbaux, besides being present at the sittings of the Commission ; and 



xvi Preface. 

ing also as the prosecuting attorney, and of summon- 
ing and examining the witnesses. As is well known, 
the most stringent measures have been taken by the 
Sublime Porte to prevent any representative of the 
press from watching the proceedings of the Com- 
mission of Inquiry at Moosh, or from making any 
independent investigation on the ground. Such pre- 
cautions are hardly necessary, for all evidence of the 
massacre was concealed by torch and spade six 
months ago. If the executioners themselves over- 
looked any of their victims, the jackals, dogs, and 
vultures have surely found them by this time. 

There are fifty native-born American citizens, not 
counting their children, who are now buried in 
Eastern Turkey. The fanatical outbreak which has 
slain thousands in their midst may yet involve them. 
The President of the United States long ago ordered 
a U. S. Consul to make a report as to the facts, simply 
for his own government, which has no official knowl- 
edge of what has or is taking place in that isolated 
region. The Sultan stamped his foot, and Consul 
Jewett was told to put his instructions in his pocket, 
where they still remain. 1 

As for France, who tattoos her fair figure with 
" Liberte, Egalite, Fraternity " wherever there is 

credit is due to the British Foreign Office for having taken the initia- 
tive in securing this concession ; but it must be remembered that the 
powers of the international representatives will be strictly limited, and 
that they will not be able to guarantee the security of the witnesses." 
— F. S. Stevenson, M.P., "Armenia," in The Contemporary Review, 
February, 1895. 

1 See Appendix B on the establishment of new U. S. Consulates 
in Eastern Turkey. Also Appendix A on American Diplomacy. 



Preface. xvii 

space to write the words, she evidently confines her 
motto to herself. It is reported that at the close of 
the Berlin Treaty of 1878, Prince Bismarck expressed 
his sentiments by saying that he " would not give 
one Pomeranian grenadier for the Balkan Peninsula." 
If so, probably he would sacrifice even less now for 
Armenia. Have the German people nothing to say? 

Holy Russia feels so sure of the Armenian apple, 
which seems bound to fall into her lap, that she 
does n't even care to shake the branch, unmindful of 
the fact that the apple is tenacious of its hold, and is 
being pecked to pieces and rotting on the stem. 
Austria would not refuse the task of instituting 
reforms as far south as Salonica. Poor Italy is will- 
ing to be useful, and Greece does not care to be left 
out. They all want their share. Nobody expects 
or is trying to secure reforms from within, though 
promises to that effect may still be demanded, and 
will always be ready on demand. 

As for official Turkey, she has long seen the sword 
of Damocles over her head, and will bow to the stroke 
of Fate whenever it falls. If it only comes hard 
enough, and is aimed true to the mark, she will even 
get out of the way. Not a drop of blood need be shed. 

What is the real difficulty in Turkey ? Is it a con- 
flict of race or religion? Primarily it is neither, 
though both these elements complicate the case. In 
one word it is misgov eminent . Do not be deceived 
by this rather mild word, and dismiss the subject 
with the reflection that " there is misgovernment 
everywhere." Misgovernment as it exists in Turkey 
is an organization that breeds death and corruption. 



xviii Preface. 

It is a disease, of which the germs penetrate the 
whole system of the body politic. It is a disease, 
hereditary, chronic, and fastened upon the very 
vitals of its victim. No creed is exempt, every race 
is attacked by it. The more apparent result is out- 
ward impoverishment and material prostration. The 
more dangerous and deplorable symptom is the moral 
deterioration of all the races affected. 

I am no eulogist of the mass of Armenians in their 
present condition. But I know their grand possi- 
bilities as a race, physically, intellectually, and 
morally. The depths to which an individual or a 
race can fall indicate the height which might have 
been attained. The only wonder is that a people of 
so great ability, energy, and spirit have so long sub- 
mitted. But when one sees, as I have been compelled 
to, during years of residence both in Constantinople 
and the interior, how the fetters have been forged 
on every limb, and how the movement of a finger 
even brings down immediate and terrible vengeance, 
the wonder arises why these wretches are so fool- 
hardy as to undertake revolution. The fact is they 
are not engaged in any such enterprise. Individual 
agitators there are, but even their object is only to 
force the civilized world to give attention to the de- 
spairing cry of their race, which even God does not 
seem, to them, to hear. 

The case of the Armenians demands immediate 
and thorough attention. But the Armenian question 
should not be allowed to fill the whole horizon in the 
Levant. Just now the blaze comes from their house, 
but no one can tell when it may result in a general 



Preface. xix 

conflagration. All the other Christian races and the 
Mohammedan races, too, are equally concerned. 
Europe itself is endangered, as her statesmen well 
know, and safety depends only on their prompt and 
united action. 

I have seen the crushing and — what is worse — 
demoralizing conditions from which the Armenian 
and all other races in Turkey suffer under Moslem 
misrule. I know how rapidly these fine races would 
advance along every line, were these conditions 
changed. It is my firm belief that such changes 
may now be secured, if the interest already aroused 
throughout the civilized world be expressed in intel- 
ligent and determined action. In the hope of such 
action I send forth this little book. If action is not 
taken, the effect of this book, as of all agitation in 
behalf of the victims of Turkey, will be to draw the 
fetters deeper. What result may follow to my many 
friends and former associates on the ground, with 
whom it is very difficult to communicate, I do not 
know. But I know them, and do not believe that 
there is one among their number who, to shield him- 
self from danger, would stay my pen. 

Reader, your voice and help are needed. 

" He 's true to God who 's true to man ; wherever wrong is done 
To the humblest and the weakest, 'neath the all-beholding sun, 
That wrong is also done to us ; and they are slaves most base 
Whose love of right is for themselves, and not for all their race." 

— Lowell. 




MAP OF 

[KEY »n ASIA 

section is commonly callec 

^RMENIA 

■Railroads Completed 
i/» progress 

$CE«E or MA3SACRE 

ft. WILE ^M.ij.Qjt DEGREE 

:s=s ONE AVERACE HOUR Or TRAVEL 



CHAPTER I. 
A CHAPTER OF HORRORS. 

CERTIFIED EVIDENCE OF THE MASSACRE IN 

SASSOUN. 

WE, the undersigned, by examination and com- 
parison, have satisfied ourselves that the 
following statements are verbatim reports, 
written under the dates which they bear, by American 
citizens who have spent from six to thirty years in 
Eastern Turkey. We have examined also the fact 
that they are written from six different cities from 
one hundred to two hundred miles apart, but form- 
ing a circle about the centre in which the massacres 
occurred. For the personal safety of the writers the 
names of the places cannot now be made public. 
They are independent reports from a country where 
refugees and returned soldiers of the Sultan speak of 
what they know. We have the utmost confidence 
in these statements and regard them worthy the 
belief of all men. 

In the name of a suffering humanity we urge the 
careful perusal of these statements, and recommend 
that all readers take measures to make the indig- 
nation of an outraged Christian world effectually 
felt. We deprecate revolution among these helpless 
Turkish subjects, but bespeak cordial co-operation 
in bringing to bear upon Turkey the force of the 
righteous condemnation of our seventy millions of 
people. 





^t^ 



%<^— s.a^^ 




<*. 










!>"*&>%«.&** 




FREDERIC T. GREENHALGE 

Governor of Massachusetts. 

FRANCES E. WILLARD 

President National W. C. T. U. 

WM. LLOYD GARRISON 

SAMUEL J. BARROWS 

Editor Christian Register. 

GEO. C. LORIMER 

Pastor Tremont Temple, Boston. 

WILLIAM E. BARTON 

Pastor Shawm ut Church, Boston. 

H. M. JEWETT 

Ex-U. S. Consul, Sivas, Turkey. 1 

MARY A. LIVERMORE 

Author and Lecturer. 

ALPHEUS H. HARDY 
FRANCIS E. CLARK 

Pres. United Society Christian Endeavor. 

1 Brother and predecessor of the present Consul Jewett, at Sivas. 

3 



dg^ e?X4 








EDWARD EVERETT HALE 

Pastor New South Congregational Church, Boston. 

JULIA WARD HOWE 
Author and Lecturer. 

FRANCIS A. WALKER 

Pres. Mass. School of Technology. 

A. E. PILLSBURY 

Ex-Attorney-General of Massachusetts. 

ISABEL SOMERSET 

Lady Henry Somerset. 

CYRUS HAMLIN 

Founder of Robert College. 

I. J. LANSING 

Pastor Park Street Church, Boston. 

JOSEPH COOK 

Author and Lecturer. 

WM. E. RUSSELL 

Ex-Governor of Massachusetts. 

JONATHAN A. LANE 

Pres. Boston Merchants' Association. 

5 • • 



EXPLANATORY NOTE BY THE AUTHOR. 



THESE letters are written by men who can have 
no possible motive for misrepresenting the 
facts in the case, while, on the other hand, 
each writer subjected himself to personal danger by- 
putting such statements upon paper and sending 
them through the mails. Several of the documents 
have gotten through Turkey by circuitous routes, in 
some instances having been sent by special messenger 
to Persia, and so on to this country. Others were 
never risked in the Turkish mails, but have come 
through the British post-office at Constantinople. 

It must be borne in mind that no writer was an 
eye-witness of the actual massacre ; nor could he 
have been, inasmuch as the whole region was sur- 
rounded by a military cordon during the massacre 
and for months after. The letters are largely based 
on the testimony of refugees from that region, or of 
Kurds and soldiers who participated in the butchery, 
and who had no hesitation in speaking about the 
affair in public or private until long after, when the 
prospect of a European investigation sealed their 
lips. Much of the evidence is, therefore, essentially 
first hand, having been obtained from eye-witnesses, 

6 



A Chapter of Horrors. 7 

by parties in the vicinity at the time, who are im- 
partial, thoroughly experienced in sifting Oriental 
testimony, familiar with the Turkish and Armenian 
languages, and of the highest veracity. No one letter 
would have much force if taken alone, for it might 
be a large report of a small matter ; but these sixteen 
letters are written independently of one another, at 
different times, and from seven different cities widely 
apart, five of them forming a circle around the scene 
of destruction. The evidence is cumulative and 
overwhelming. 

There is absolute unanimity to this extent : that 
a gigantic and indescribably horrible massacre of 
Armenian men, women, and children did actually 
take place in the Sassoun and neighboring regions 
about Sept. I, 1894, and that, too, at the hands of 
Kurdish troops armed by the Sultan of Turkey, as 
well as of regular soldiers sent under orders from the 
same source. What those orders were will probably 
never transpire. That they were executed under the 
personal direction of high Turkish military officers is 
clear. There can also be no doubt — for the official 
notice from the palace was printed in the Constan- 
tinople papers in November last— that Zekki Pasha, 
Commander of the Fourth Army Corps, who led the 
regular troops in the work of extermination, has 
since been specially honored by a decoration from 
the Sultan, who was also pleased to send silk banners 
to the four leading Kurdish chiefs, by a special mes- 
senger. 

The latest, most accurate, and comprehensive doc- 
ument in this correspondence is No. 6, which is 



8 The Crisis in Turkey. 

based on evidence obtained with special care at the 
nearest attainable point to the scene, and was pre- 
pared by parties in intimate relations with the 
European official who made the first investigation 
on the ground last October, but whose report has 
not yet been made public. 

The letters are arranged in chronological order. 
In view of the fact that the names of the cities from 
which the various documents are dated must be 
withheld at present, these places are designated by 
letters of the alphabet. The separate extracts are 
also numbered to facilitate reference. In order that 
there may be no confusion, all explanatory comments 
of the author are enclosed in brackets. 



THE EVIDENCE. 



No. i. 

[The reader should take notice that this first letter 
was written over four months before the massacre 
actually occurred.] 

D . . ., April 3, 1894. 
It does seem in this region as if the government 
were bent on reducing all those who survive the 
process to a grovelling poverty, when they can think 
of nothing more than getting their daily bread. 
There is good reason for thinking that unless so- 
called Christian nations extend a helping hand, they 
[the Armenians] will become wellnigh extinct. Of 
course I do not sympathize in any way with the ex- 
tremists in other lands who are stirring things up 
here. Nor do I agree with those papers that decry 
this movement as very foolish because there is no 
hope for success. If I rightly interpret the move- 
ment in this region, the thought is not revolution at 
all, but a desperate effort to call the attention of 
Europe to the wrongs they are suffering and will 
ever continue to suffer under this government. They 
feel that they will never succeed in attracting that 

9 



IO 



The Crisis in Turkey, 



attention unless they show that they are desperate 
enough to sacrifice their lives. And there is no com- 
puting the lives that are going, not in open massacre as 
in Bidgaria — the government knows better than that, — 
but in secret, silent, secluded ways. The sooner it is 
known, the better. There never will be peaceful, 
prosperous conditions here until others take hold 
with a strong hand. 




VICTIMS OF TURKISH TAXATION ABANDONING THEIR 
VILLAGE HOMES. 

No. 2. 
[This is the first report of the massacre.] 

D . . ., Sept. 26, 1894. 

Troops have been massed in the region of the 

large plain near us. Sickness broke out among them, 

which took off two or three victims every few days. 

It was a good excuse for establishing the quarantine 



A Chapter of Horrors. 1 1 

around, with its income from bribes, charges, and 
the inevitable rise in the price of the already dear 
grain. I suspect that one reason for placing quaran- 
tine was to hinder the information as to what all 
those troops were about in that region. There 
seems little doubt that there has been repeated in 
the region back of Moosh what took place in 1876 
in Bulgaria. The sickening details are beginning to 
come in. As in that case, it has been the innocent 
who have been the greatest sufferers. Forty-eight 
villages are said to have been wholly blotted out. 



No. 3. 

[Efforts to conceal the truth as soon as Vice-Con- 
sul Hallward arrived on the scene, and to ward off 
investigation.] 

D . . ., Oct. 3, 1894. 
As the time goes on the extent of the slaughter 
seems to be confirmed as greater than was first sup- 
posed. Six thousand is a low figure — it is probably 
nearer ten. Mr. Hallward, the new [English] Consul 
at Van, has gone directly there, and it is said that 
the other consuls from Erzroom have also been sent 
to investigate. The government tried to get the 
people here to sign an address to the Sovereign, ex- 
pressing satisfaction with his rule, disclaiming sym- 
pathy with the Armenians who have " stirred matters 
up," stating that the thousands slain in Talvoreeg 
met their just deserts, and that the four outsiders 
captured should be summarily punished, expressing 



12 The Crisis in Turkey. 

regret that it has been thought best to send consuls 
to investigate, and stating that there was no need for 
their coming. From this document we at least get 
some facts that before were suppositions. It con- 
sisted of about two thousand words, and it was ex- 
pected that it would be sent by telegraph with at 
least a thousand signatures. The Armenians here 
have not yet signed it, though in four districts simi- 
lar papers have been secured properly sealed. The 
effect of such papers on foreigners will be much modi- 
fied when they know the means used to procure them. 
Sword, famine, pestilence, all at once — pity this 
poor country ! 

No. 4. 

[The following is from a different source.] 

A . . ., Oct. 31, 1894. 

We have word from Bitlis that the destruction of 
life in Sassoun, south of Moosh, was even greater 
than was supposed. The brief note which has 
reached us says : " Twenty-seven villages annihi- 
lated in Sassoun. Six thousand men, women, and 
children massacred by troops and Kourds. This 
awful story is just beginning to be known here, 
though the massacre took place early in September. 
The Turks have used infinite pains to prevent news 
leaking out, even going to the length of sending 
back from Trebizond many hundreds from the Moosh 
region who had come this way on business." This 
massacre was ordered from Constantinople in the 
sense that some Kourds having robbed Armenian 



A Chapter of Horrors. 1 3 

villages of flocks, the Armenians pursued and tried 
to recover their property, and a fight ensued in 
which a dozen Kourds were killed. The slain were 
" semi-official robbers," i. <?., enrolled as troops and 
armed as such, but not under control. The authori- 
ties then telegraphed to Constantinople that Arme- 
nians had " killed some of the Sultan's troops." The 
Sultan at once ordered infantry and cavalry to put 
down the Armenian rebellion, and they did it ; only, 
not finding any rebellion, they cleared the country 
so that none should occur in the future. 



No. 5. 
[This from a third place.] 

B . . ., Nov. 16, 1894. 

Last year the Talvoreeg Armenians successfully 
resisted the attacks of the neighboring Kourds. The 
country became very unsettled. This year the gov- 
ernment interfered and sent detachments of regular 
soldiers to put down the Armenians. These were 
assisted by the Kourdish Hamediehs [organized 
troops]. The Armenians were attacked in their 
mountain fastnesses and were finally reduced by the 
failure of supplies, both of food and ammunition. 
About a score of villages were wiped out of existence 
— people slaughtered and houses burned. 

A number of able-bodied young Armenians were 
captured, bound, covered with brushwood and 
burned alive. A number of Armenians, variously 
estimated, but less than a hundred, surrendered 



14 The Crisis in Turkey. 

themselves and pled for mercy. Many of them were 
shot down on the spot and the remainder were dis- 
patched with sword and bayonet. 

A lot of women, variously estimated from 60 to 
160 in number, were shut up in a church, and the 
soldiers were " let loose " among them. Many of 
them were outraged to death and the remainder dis- 
patched with sword and bayonet. A lot of young 
women were collected as spoils of war. Two stories 
are told. 1. That they were carried off to the harems 
of their Moslem captors. 2. That they were offered 
Islam and the harems of their Moslem captors, — re- 
fusing, they were slaughtered. Children were placed 
in a row, one behind another, and a bullet fired down 
the line, apparently to see how many could be dis- 
patched with one bullet. Infants and small children 
were piled one on the other and their heads struck 
off. Houses were surrounded by soldiers, set on fire, 
and the inmates forced back into the flames at the 
point of the bayonet as they tried to escape. 

But this is enough of the carnage of death. Esti- 
mates vary from 3000 to 8000 for the number of 
persons massacred. These are sober estimates. Wild 
estimates place the number as high as 20,000 to 
25,000. 

This all took place during the latter part of August 
and [early part of] September. The arrival of the 
commander-in-chief of the Fourth Army Corps put a 
stop to the carnage. It is to be noted that the 
massacres were perpetrated by regular soldiers, for 
the most part under command of officers of high 
rank. This gives this affair a most serious aspect. 



A Chapter of Horror's, 1 5 

A Christian does not enjoy the respect accorded 
to street dogs. If this massacre passes without notice 
it will simply become the declaration of the doom of 
the Christians. There will be no security for the life, 
property, or honor of a Christian. A week ago last 
Tuesday evening at sundown a Turk kidnapped the 
wife of a wealthy Armenian merchant of the town 
of Khanoos Pert. Next morning her cries were over- 
heard by searchers and she was rescued from a 
Turkish house. No redress is possible. 

Wild rumors have been abroad for a long time, but 
trustworthy information came to hand slowly. Every- 
thing has been done to hush it all up. Some of the 
minor details of the stones I have told above may not 
be exact, but I feel quite certain they are in the main. 
However, that a cruelly barbarous and extensive 
massacre of Christians by regular soldiers assisted by 
Kourdish Hamediehs, under command of officers of 
rank and responsibility, has occurred cannot be 
denied. 

What now will the Christian world do? 



No. 6. 

[This is the most complete account, compiled on 
the ground. The following document was carefully 
prepared in common by parties, the signature of 
any one of whom would be of sufficient guaranty 
to give great weight. One of the party, who is 
largely responsible for the data given, is a man of 
high position and wide influence. The material was 
collected with the greatest difficulty and under the 



1 6 The Crisis in Turkey. 

constant espionage of Turkish officials. Armenian 
Christians who were known to appear at the place 
where the writer was staying, were arrested and some 
are yet in prison if they have not met a worse fate 
already. The documents were sent by secret, special 
carriers into Persia and came by Persian post to the 
United States. They left Turkey about the last of 
November, 1894. This document alone is sufficient 
to stir the indignation of a Christian world.] 

C . . ., Nov., 1894. 

There is uneasiness in Bitlis as to the safety of that 
city. Scrutiny of the mails by the Turkish authori- 
ties continues, and some letters addressed to resi- 
dents and officials in the United States are failing 
to arrive. 

The Hamedie'h soldiers, who are Kourds, and who 
have been enrolled during the past three years, are 
uniformed to some extent, but left in their homes. 
They are committing all kinds of depredations. The 
government continues to exact taxes in the plun- 
dered districts, sends zabtiehs, or Turkish soldiers, 
to abide in the villages, and eat the people out of 
provisions until in some way they manage to secure 
the money. In the Bashkalla region many of the 
men find, on returning, that the government has 
taken possession of their property and refuses to 
restore it or allow them to remain in their old homes. 

The authorities have taken and are taking every 
precaution to prevent accounts of the famous mas- 
sacre of Moosh from reaching the outside world. 
The English consul, Mr. Hallward, went on a tour in 



A Chapter of Horrors. 1 7 

the region affected. He was subjected to constant 
annoying espionage, and was absolutely unable to 
penetrate into the devastated region. 

To what extent Armenian agitation has provoked 
the terrible massacre it is difficult to determine. For 
a year or more there seems to have been an Arme- 
nian from Constantinople staying in the region as an 
agitator. For a long time he skilfully evaded his 
pursuers, but was at last caught and taken to Bitlis. 
He demanded to be taken to Constantinople and to 
the Sultan, and, it is said, he is now living at the 
capital, receiving a large salary from the govern- 
ment. Evidently he has turned state's evidence. 

FACTS REGARDING A MASSACRE AT SASSOUN, NEAR 
MOOSH, TURKEY. 

Late in May, 1893, an outside agitator named 
Damatian was captured near Moosh. The gov- 
ernment had suspected that the Talvoreeg vil- 
lages were harboring such agitators, and had 
sent orders to certain Kourdish chiefs to attack the 
district, assuming the responsibility for all they 
should kill, and promising the Kourds all the spoil. 

Not long after Damatian had been brought to 
Bitlis, the first week in June, the Bakranlee Kourds 
began to gather below Talvoreeg. As the villagers 
saw the Kourds gathering day by day, to the num- 
ber of several thousands, they suspected their de- 
signs, and began to make preparations. On the 
eighth day the battle was joined. The stronger 
position of the villagers enabled them to do con- 
siderable execution with little loss to themselves. 



1 8 The Crisis in Turkey. 

The issue of the contest at sunset was some one 
hundred Kourds slain, and but six of the villagers, 
one of whom was a woman who was trying to rescue 
a mule from the Kourds. The villagers had suc- 
ceeded in breaking down a bridge across the deep 
gorge of a river before a detachment of Kourds from 
another direction could join in the attack against 
them. The Kourds thus felt themselves worsted, 
and could not be induced to make another attack 
that summer. 

At this juncture the Governor-general set out 
with troops and two field-pieces for Moosh, and in- 
fested the region near Talvoreeg, but either he con- 
sidered his forces insufficient, or he had orders to 
keep quiet, for he made no attack, but merely had 
the troops keep siege. Before leaving, he succeeded, 
by giving hostages, in having an interview with some 
of the chief men in Talvoreeg, and asked them why 
they did not submit to the government, and pay 
taxes. They replied that they were not disloyal to 
the government, but that they could not pay taxes 
twice, to the Kourds and to the government. If 
the government would protect them, they would 
pay to it. Nothing came of the parley, and the 
siege was continued till snow fell. During the win- 
ter, while blackmail was rife in the vilayet, several 
rich men of Talvoreeg were invited to visit the 
Governor-General, but did not see best to accept. 

In the early spring the Kourds of several tribes 
were ordered to attack the villages of Sassoun, while 
troops were sent on from Moosh and Bitlis, the latter 
taking along ammunition and stores, and ten mule- 



20 The Crisis in Turkey, 

loads of kerosene (eighty cans). The whole district 
was pretty well besieged by Kourds and troops. 
The villages thus besieged would occasionally make 
sorties to secure food. 

The Kourds on one occasion stole several oxen, 
and their owners tracked their property to the 
Kourdish tents, and found that one ox had been 
butchered. They asked for the others, and were 
refused, whereupon the villagers left, and later re- 
turned with some companions. A scrimmage ensued, 
in which two or three were killed on either side. 
The Kourds at once took their dead to the govern- 
ment at Moosh, and reported that the region was 
filled with Armenian and foreign soldiers. The 
government at once sent in all directions for sol- 
diers, gathering in all from eight to ten taboors 
(regiments), Kourds congregated to the number of 
about twenty thousand, while some five hundred 
Hamedieh horsemen were brought to Moosh. 

METHODS OF PROCEDURE AND INCIDENTS OF THE 

MASSACRE. 

At first the Kourds were set on, and the troops 
kept out of sight. The villagers, put to the 
fight, and thinking they had only the Kourds to 
do with, repulsed them on several occasions. The 
Kourds were unwilling to do more unless the troops 
assisted. Some of the troops assumed Kourdish 
dress, and helped them in the fight with more suc- 
cess. Small companies of troops entered several 
villages, saying they had come to protect them as 
loyal subjects, and were quartered among the houses. 



A Chapter of Horrors. 21 

In the night they arose and slew the sleeping vil- 
lagers, man, woman, and child. 

By this time those in other villages were beginning 
to feel that extermination was the object of the 
government, and desperately determined to sell 
their lives as dearly as possible. And then began a 
campaign of butchery that lasted some twenty-three 
days, or, roughly, from the middle of August to the 
middle of September. The Ferik Pasha [Marshal 
Zekki Pasha], who came post-haste from Erzingan, 
read the Sultan's firman for extermination, and 
then, hanging the document on his breast, exhorted 
the soldiers not to be found wanting in their duty. 
On the last day of August, the anniversary of the 
Sultan ' s accession, the soldiers zuere especially urged to 
distinguish themselves, and they made it the day of the 
greatest slaughter. Another marked day occurred a 
few days earlier, being marked by the occurrence of 
a wonderful meteor. 

No distinctions were made between persons or 
villages, as to whether they were loyal and had paid 
their taxes or not. The orders were to make a clean 
sweep. A priest and some leading men from one 
village went out to meet an officer, taking in their 
hands their tax receipts, declaring their loyalty, and 
begging for mercy; but the village was surrounded, 
and all human beings put to the bayonet. A large 
and strong man, the chief of one village, was cap- 
tured by the Kourds, who tied him, threw him on 
the ground, and, squatting around him, stabbed him 
to pieces. 

At Galogozan many young men were tied hand 



22 The Crisis in Turkey. 

and foot, laid in a row, covered with brushwood and 
burned alive. Others were seized and hacked to 
death piecemeal. At another village a priest and 
several leading men were captured, and promised 
release if they would tell where others had fled, but, 
after telling, all but the priest were killed. A chain 
was put around the priest's neck, and pulled from 
opposite sides till he was several times choked and 
revived, after which several bayonets were planted 
upright, and he raised in the air and let fall upon them. 

The men of one village, when fleeing, took the 
women and children, some five hundred in number, 
and placed them in a sort of grotto in a ravine. 
After several days the soldiers found them, and 
butchered those who had not died of hunger. 

Sixty young women and girls were selected from 
one village and placed in a church, when the soldiers 
were ordered to do with them as they liked, after 
which they were butchered. 

In another village fifty choice women were set 
aside and urged to change their faith and become 
hanums in Turkish harems, but they indignantly 
refused to deny Christ, preferring the fate of their 
fathers and husbands. People were crowded into 
houses which were then set on fire. In one instance 
a little boy ran out of the flames, but was caught on 
a bayonet and thrown back. 

Children were frequently held up by the hair and 
cut in two, or had their jaws torn apart. Women 
with child were ripped open ; older children were 
pulled apart by their legs. A handsome, newly 
wedded couple fled to a hilltop ; soldiers followed, 



A Chapter of Horrors. 2 



o 



and told them they were pretty and would be spared 
if they would accept Islam, but the thought of the 
horrible death they knew would follow did not pre- 
vent them from confessing Christ. 

The last stand took place on Mount Andoke 
[south of Moosh], where some thousand persons had 
sought refuge. The Kourds were sent in relays to 
attack them, but for ten or fifteen days were unable 
to get at them. The soldiers also directed the fire 
of their mountain guns on them, doing some execu- 
tion. Finally, after the besieged had been without 
food for several days, and their ammunition was ex- 
hausted, the troops succeeded in reaching the sum- 
mit without any loss, and let scarcely a man escape. 

Now all turned their attention to those who had 
been driven into the Talvoreeg district. Three or 
four thousand of the besieged were left in this small 
plain. When they saw themselves thickly sur- 
rounded on all sides by Turks and Kourds, they 
raised their hands to heaven with an agonizing moan 
for deliverance. They were thinned out by rifle 
shots, and the remainder were slaughtered with 
bayonets and swords, till a veritable river of blood 
flowed from the heaps of the slain. 

And so ended the massacre, for the timely arrival 
of the Mushire [Commander-in-chief of the Fourth 
Army Corps at Erzingan] saved a few prisoners 
alive, and prevented the extermination of four more 
villages that were on the list to be destroyed, among 
which was the Protestant village of Havodorick. 
This was the formidable army the government had 
massed so many troops and Kourds to vanquish. 



24 The Crisis in Turkey. 

So far as is known, not more than ten or fifteen 
outsiders were among them, and all told it is not 
likely they had more than one hundred breech- 
loading rifles. 

THE NUMBER OF ARMENIANS SLAIN. 

Even if one were able to visit the district, it would 
be impossible to get more than an approximate esti- 
mate of the number of victims, for many were thrown 
into trenches, which the rain had washed out, and 
were covered with earth. Where no such trenches 
existed the bodies were piled up with alternate lay- 
ers of wood, saturated with kerosene, and set on fire. 
But it seems certain that the villages of the whole 
district were wiped out. A Kourdish chief coming 
late with his men, and finding that there was noth- 
ing left for him to do, went off on his own hook and 
got all the plunder he could from the village of 
Maineeg, near Havodorick. 

A soldier while in quarantine said he had killed 
five persons, and he had killed less than anybody 
else. Another confided to one that he had killed a 
hundred. A soldier got angry while trading with an 
Armenian the other day in the Bitlis market, and 
shouted out that they had slain a thousand thousand, 
and would turn to those in the city next. 

It seems safe to say that forty villages were totally 
destroyed, and it is probable that sixteen thousand 
at least were killed. The lowest estimate is ten tJwu- 
sand, and many put it much higher. This is allow- 
ing for more fugitives than it seems possible can 
have escaped. 



A Chapter of Horrors. 25 

To cap the climax, the Governor-General, through 
imprisonment and intimidation of various kinds, has 
forced the chief men in all the province (the city of 
Bitlis alone excepted), to seal an address of gratitude 
to the Sultan, that the Governor has restored order 
in the vilayet ! ! 



No. 7. 

[The following extract is from a personal letter 
written by one whose name would be immediately 
recognized by every reader were we at liberty to 
make public use of it. The writer is a person of 
broad influence ; but for the present, owing to facts 
which we are not at liberty to relate, he cannot take 
a public stand. He will probably be heard from 
yet.] 

F . . ., Nov. 10, 1894. 

The massacre which took place a few weeks ago — 
I do not know the exact date — occurred in the district 
of Talvoreeg which lies between Moosh and Diabe- 
kir. It is an Armenian district, comprising thirty or 
forty villages, surrounded by Kourds. 

Last year some of the Armenians there armed 
themselves and resisted the Kourds, who are con- 
stantly making raids on their villages and carrying 
off their property. The Governor sent some soldiers, 
who killed a few Armenians and received a medal 
from the government for having wiped out a great 
rebellion. This year there are said to have been ten 
or fifteen revolutionists among these Armenians. A 



26 The Crisis in Turkey. 

Kourdish chief in order to get out of some difficul- 
ties that he had gotten into with the government 
set the ball rolling by carrying off some cattle be- 
longing to certain of the Armenians. The Armeni- 
ans endeavored to recover the cattle, and a fight 
followed, in which two Kourdswere killed and three 
were wounded. The Kourds immediately carried 
their dead to Moosh, laid them down at the govern- 
ment house, reporting that Armenian soldiers were 
overrunning the land, killing and plundering them. 

This furnished the government with the desired 
excuse for collecting soldiers from far and near. 
The general is said to have worn on his breast an 
order from Constantinople, which he read to the sol- 
diers, commanding them to cut down the Armenians 
root and branch, and adjuring them if they loved 
their Sultan and their government they would do 
so. A terrible massacre followed. Between five and 
ten thousand Christians are said to have been 
butchered in a most terrible manner. Some soldiers 
say a hundred fell to each one of them to dispose 
of; others wept because the Kourds did more execu- 
tion than they. 

No respect was shown to age or sex. Men, women, 
and infants were treated alike, except that the women 
were subjected to greater outrage before they were 
slaughtered. The women were not even granted the 
privilege of a life of slavery. For example, in one 
place three or four hundred women, after being 
forced to serve the vile purposes of a merciless sol- 
diery, were taken to a valley near by and hacked to 
pieces with sword and bayonet. In another place 



A Chapter of Horrors. 27 

about two hundred women, weeping and wailing, 
knelt before the commander and begged for mercy, 
but the blood-thirsty wretch, after ordering their 
violation directed the soldiers to dispatch them in a 
similar manner. In another place a large company, 
headed by the priest, fell down before the officers 
saying they had nothing to do with the culprits, and 
pleading for compassion, but all to no purpose— all 
were killed. Some sixty young brides and more at- 
tractive girls were crowded into a little church in 
another village, where, after being violated, they 
were slaughtered, and a stream of human blood 
flowed from the church door. To some of the more 
attractive women in one place the proposition was 
made that they might be spared if they denied their 
faith. ''Why should we deny Christ," they said, 
and pointing to the dead bodies of their husbands 
and brothers before them, they nobly answered, " We 
are no better than they ; kill us too,"— and they died. 
After the above-mentioned events the Governor 
attempted to persuade and compel the Armenians to 
sign a paper thanking the Sultan and himself that 
justice had been done to the rebels ! 

No. 8. 
[From another city to which soldiers returning 
brought details of what they had done.] 

E . . ., Dec. 6, 1894. 
The Armenians, oppressed by Kourds and Turks, 
said, " We can't pay taxes to both Kourds and the 
government." Plundered and oppressed by the 



28 The Crisis in Turkey. 

Kourds, they resisted them ; there were some killed. 
Then false reports were sent to Constantinople that 
the Armenians were in arms, in rebellion. Orders 
were sent to the Mushire [Commander-in-chief] at 
Erzingan to exterminate them root and branch. The 
orders read before the army collected in haste from 
all the chief cities of Eastern Turkey was : " Who- 
ever spares man, woman, or child is disloyal." 

The region was surrounded by soldiers of the army 
and twenty thousand Kourds also are said to have 
been massed there. Then they advanced upon the 
centre, driving in the people like a flock of sheep, and 
continued thus to advance for days. No quarter was 
given, no mercy shown. Men, women, and children 
shot down or butchered like sheep. Probably when 
they were set upon in this way some tried to save 
their lives and resisted in self-defense. Many who 
could fled in all directions, but the majority were 
slain. The most probable estimate is fifteen thousand 
killed, thirty-five villages plundered, razed, burnt. 

Women were outraged and then butchered ; a 
priest taken to the roof of his church and hacked to 
pieces ; young men piled in with wood saturated 
with kerosene and set on fire ; a large number of 
women and girls collected in church, kept for days, 
violated by the brutal soldiers, and then murdered. 
It is said the number was so laro-e that the blood 
flowed out of the church door. Three soldiers con- 
tended over a beautiful girl. They wanted to pre- 
serve her,' but she too was killed. 

Every effort is being made and will be made to 
falsify (excuse the blots — emblematic of the horrible 



A Chapter of Horrors. 



29 



story) the facts and pull the wool over the eyes of 
European governments. But the bloody tale will 
finally be known, the most horrible, it seems to me, 
that the nineteenth century has known. As a con- 
firmation of the report, the other day several hun- 




NAREG : ANCIENT CHURCH AND MODERN HOVELS. 



dred soldiers were returning from the seat of war, 
and at a village near us one was heard to say that 
he alone with his own hand had killed thirty pregnant 
women. Some who seem to have some shame for 
their atrocious deeds say : " What could we do, we 
were under orders? " 



30 The Crisis in Turkey. 

No. 9. 

[Later from the same place as the preceding ex- 
tract. Evidence of a regular soldier who helped 
dispose of the dead.] 

E . . ., Dec. 17, 1894. 
The soldiers who went from here talk quite freely 
about matters at Sassoun. A. heard one talk the 
other day. He said the work was mostly finished 
before the E . . . soldiers got there. There was 
great spoil — flocks, herds, household goods, etc. — but 
their chief work was to dispose of the heaps and 
heaps of the dead. The stench was awful. They 
were gathered into the still standing houses and 
burned with the houses. They say that the work 
of destruction was wrought by the Hamedieh, i. e., 
the newly organized Kourdish regiments. Those 
regiments are one of the chief elements of danger to 
the country now. 



No. 10. 

[From a city some distance from the scene.] 

B . . .', Dec. 22, 1894. 
You may believe most all that the papers say about 
the mountains west of Moosh. I wrote you giving 
you a few more authenticated details. I hope that 
letter reached you. I give the outline here again. In 
August the Armenians were declared in rebellion. 
The regular soldiers and Hamediehs were ordered to 
the spot. Orders were issued from Constantinople 



A Chapter of Horrors. 3 1 

to put down the rebellion. Both regulars and 
Hamediehs were used. The massacre began after 
the middle of August— about the 1 8th— and con- 
tinued to about the ioth of September. The safe 
estimates put the number of victims at about four 
thousand, not less than three thousand five hundred, 
and, in all probability, more than four thousand. 

Men, women, and children were most barbarously 
slaughtered— unnamable outrages were perpetrated 
on all. The less horrible outrages were some of the 
following : bayoneting the men, and in this wounded 
condition either burying or burning them ; outraging 
women and then dispatching them with bayonets or 
swords ; ripping up pregnant women ; impaling in- 
fants and children on the bayonet, or dispatching 
them with the sword ; houses fired, and the inmates 
driven back into the flames. 

The unspeakable horror of those three weeks must 
have sent many a one crazy. The story is told that 
one soldier found a comely infant and took compas- 
sion on it and wished to save it. The mother was 
found in a crowd of poor, wretched women, but she 
was raving, calling for her children. She did not 
recognize the child, and nothing was left to the sol- 
dier but to dispatch it. 



No. ii 



[Efforts to block the Commission and put the 
country in shape for inspection by emptying prisons 
of innocent people.] 



32 The Crisis in Tier key. 

B . . ., Dec. 29, 1894. 

The Bitlis Governor asks for a cordon on Moosh, 
as there is cholera reported there. So the Consular 
Commission is delayed. The Turkish Commission is 
at Moosh now. Only, the president of it was re- 
called. In the meantime Sassoun refugees are scat- 
tered over the country, begging. Their stories, to- 
gether with the stories of the soldiers, confirm the 
most horrible of the reports of cruelty. 

In all this, remember that the same thing has been 
going on on a lesser scale all over the country. 

Two weeks ago thirty-six men were dismissed from 
B prison after three years three months' de- 

tention. A little over three years ago three Armeni- 
ans were most barbarously murdered in the Narman 
district, north of this city and near the Russian 
boundary. Some Turks were called up for examina- 
tion, and all were dismissed. Later, three Turks were 
murdered and mutilated, apparently in retaliation. 
The able-bodied men — sixty-two in number — of two 
villages were thrown into prison. Some of them were 
condemned to death, some to life imprisonment, and 
others to various terms of imprisonment. A number 
of them died — fifteen, I think — in prison. Thirty-six 
were released the other day, and eleven are still in 
prison. They have suffered horribly during these 
three years. In what condition will they find their 
homes when those who are released return ? It is 
almost certain that none of them knew anything 
about the murder or had any hand in it. It is said 
that the murderer is well known, and is in Russia. 
This case is a Sassoun atrocity on a smaller scale. 



A Chapter of Horrors. 33 

For God's sake do not let the public conscience go 
to sleep again over this reign of terror. The land is 
almost paralyzed with horror and terror ! 



No. 12. 



[The crisis and the need of keeping the issue clear. 
The real explanation of the massacre.] 

A . . ., Jan. 7, 1895. 

The importance of the present crisis grows upon 
me. In the first place Turkey is preparing for a ter- 
rible catastrophe by squeezing Armenians, and arm- 
ing Moslem civilians in Sivas, Aleppo, Castamouni, 
and other provinces ; and in the second place it is 
putting on the screws tighter everywhere excepting 
in the three eastern provinces where the Commission 
is now commencing investigation. In Van and Bit- 
lis the process of arresting and intimidating witnesses 
went on until the very hour of the departure of the 
Commission of Investigation. Then the order went 
out to stop, and those provinces are enjoying the 
first semblance of quiet that they have known for 
five years. 

This policy of continued massacre and outrage is 
favored by the profound ignorance which prevails 
everywhere as to the actual state of things in Turkey. 
People think that the Sassoun massacre is something- 
exceptional, and that until that is proved there is no 
evidence of a need of European interference in behalf 
of Christians in Turkey. What ought to be done is 
to fix on the mind of the public the fact that Turkey 



34 The Crisis in Turkey. 

has taken up the policy of crushing the Christians all 
over the Empire, and has been at it for several years, 
so that even if the massacre had not taken place, the 
duty of Europe to prohibit Turkey from acting the 
part of Anti-Christ was still self-evident. 



No. 13. 

[Turks getting nervous, but not enough to forget 
taxes.] 

B . ., Jan. 5, 1895. 

The horrible stories are only being confirmed. It 
is said that unborn babes were cut from their quiver- 
ing mothers and carried about on spear tops. The 
Turks themselves now see that they went a step too 
far, and they are feeling the awful tension of suspense 
as much as the Christians. However, the pitiless 
collection of taxes is causing fearful suffering. 



No. 14. 

[Prospects of the Commission of Inquiry, and its 
inadequacy in any case to do justice to the chronic 
state of the country.] 

B . . ., Jan. 12, 1895. 

The people are in a state of horror because of the 
massacre. The Commission has been expected for 
some time, and without doubt the local authorities 
have used every means to cover up their tracks and 
terrorize still further those who may be probable 



A Chapter of Horrors, 3 5 

witnesses. Those who are encouraged to testify will 
be again at the mercy of the Turks after the Com- 
mission rises. I have not the slightest doubt that 
some will be courageous enough to testify, but it 
will be at great odds. Almost everything is against 
the perfect success of the Commission's work, or 
rather the favorable outcome of the work of the 
European delegates. It will not be right to stake 
the fate of Armenia on the outcome of the work of 
this Commission. 

Rather it should be remembered that Sassoun is 
the outcome of a governmental system. There have 
been hundreds of Sassouns all over the country all 
through the last ten years, as you know. The laxity 
of Europe has afforded opportunity for the merciless 
working of this system in all its vigor. It is born of 
religious and race hatred, and has in mind the crush- 
ing of Christianity and Christians. 

It is not the Kourdish robbers, or famine, or chol- 
era that have to answer for the present state of the 
country. It is rather the robbery, and famine, and 
worse than cholera entailed on the country by the 
workings of this system. It is not alone the blood 
of five thousand men, women, children, and babies, 
that rises in a fearful wail to heaven, calling for 
just vengeance, but also the fearful suffering, the 
desolate homes, the wanton cruelty of tax collectors 
and petty officials, and the violated honor of scores 
and scores. 

The Turk is on trial. Let not Sassoun alone go 
in evidence, but remember that the same wail rises 
from all over the country. 



36 The Crisis in Turkey. 

[Evidence of an eye-witness, whose occupation 
saved him. Very few succeeded in escaping to tell 
the tale.] 

I saw an eye-witness to some of the Sassoun de- 
struction. He passed through three villages. They 
were all in ruins, and mutilated bodies told the hor- 
rible tale. For four or five days he was in one vil- 
lage. During the day parties of the scattered 
inhabitants would come in and throw themselves 
upon the mercy of the officer in command. About 
two hours after sundown each evening these prisoners 
of that day were marched out of camp to a neighbor- 
ing valley, and the air was rent with their pitiful 
cries. He saw nothing more of them. He estimates 
that five hundred men disappeared in that way while 
he was there. 

Between two hundred and three hundred women 
and children were brought into camp. They also 
disappeared, how he did not know. He was an 
Armenian muleteer pressed for the transport of the 
military. He was sent out of the district to Moosh. 
He and his companion are the only eye-witnesses we 
have seen. 

Another refugee from a village on the border tells 
the story of how his mother, after terrible hardships, 
escaped to a monastery where this young man was 
a servant. She told of the merciless slaughter of all 
the rest of the household, and destruction of the 
village. She with her young child succeeded in 
reaching the monastery, where after a few days she 
died of her wounds. 



A Chapter of Horrors. 37 

The country waits breathlessly the result of the 
investigation. May the Lord of nations stretch forth 
His almighty arm to save ! 



No. 15. 



B . . ., Jan. 25, 1895. 

Eight to ten thousand breaths gone out is about 
enough, but the form beggars description. Some 
impaled, some buried alive, some burned in houses 
with the help of kerosene, pregnant women ripped 
up, children seized by the hair to have the head 
lopped off as if it were a worthless bud, hundreds of 
women turned over to the vile soldiery with sequence 
of terrible slaughter. 



No. 16. 



[The last letter was written in this country by one 
who has spent years in the very heart of the afflicted 
region.] 

New York, Jan. 25, 1895. 

Up to May, 1894, when I left Van, the whole Chris- 
tian population of that region was simply paralyzed 
by fear, and there was no manifestation of any revo- 
lutionary thought or intention by the Armenians. 
Certainly, if such a revolution were contemplated, 
you would expect to find it in the Van and Bitlis 
vilayets [provinces], where the provocation is the 
greatest. 



3& The Crisis in Turkey. 

[Many other letters have been received which con- 
tain no new evidence, but which in every particular 
confirm what is here reported. It would add 
nothing to the evidence to give further extracts 
here. 

Many who have given no reports, but knowing 
that some others have done so, say : " You can 
safely believe all, and more, for the sickening details 
that come in are becoming worse and worse." " No 
report can be exaggerated as to the horrible event," 
etc., etc. 

All the sixteen preceding extracts, and the original 
letters from which they are taken, are endorsed by 
the twenty names which are reproduced in facsimile 
on pages 2 and 4. The following additional letters, 
which have arrived too late to be submitted with 
the above, have come through the same channels 
and are of equal weight.] 



No. 17. 



[This is an extract from a letter written from a 
town in the province of Erzroom, and has no con- 
nection with the Sassoun affair. It is the written 
testimony of a pure, sensitive Christian woman, who 
is only one of hundreds that have been and are being 
trodden in the mire of Moslem lust. It was intended 
for the eye of a beloved teacher of the poor victim 
who wrote it. If it is wrong for me to publish it to 
the world, let God and the reader judge. Remember 
that the silence of death reigns in Sassoun, and that 



A Chapter of Horrors. 



39 



throughout other regions terror paralyzes the tongue. 
It bears date, November 4, 1894, Old Style (i. e., 
November 16th). It is eloquent in its agonizing 
pathos, and shows the condition of the country 
in which such events are common occurrences, and 
against which there is no redress.] 




ARMENIAN GIRLS OF VAN. 



[Translated.] 

G . . ., Nov. 4, 1894. 

" / implore and earnestly entreat that you will re- 
member one of your former pupils, and Jiear my cry 
for sympathy and protection. I have been outraged. 
Oh, zvoe is me, eternal pain and sorrow to my young 
heart ! Evil disposed and lazvless men have robbed 
me of the bloom and beauty of my wifely purity. It 
was H Bey, the son of the Kaimakam (the local 



40 The Crisis in Turkey. 

Turkish Governor residing in the village). It was in 
the evening betzvee?i six and seven o'clock. I zvas en- 
gaged in my household work. I stepped outside the 
door, when I suddenly found myself in tlie grasp of 
four men. They smothered my cries and threatened 
my life, and by force carried me off to a strange house. 
Oh, zuhat black hours zvere those till the sweet light of 
the sun once more arose ! Though this is written 
with ink, believe me, it is written in blood and 
tears." 



No. 1 8. 

[The following letter was written from an entirely 
different part of Turkey from the preceding letters. 
It is a region far remote from the massacres, and yet 
indicates a state of affairs that is deplorable. The 
writer is not an American nor is he a native of 
Turkey ; he has spent several years in that country 
and is a man in whom all would have the highest 
confidence were we at liberty to give the name.] 

H . . ., Jan. ii, 1895. 

Those cordons and quarantine, together with the 
extraordinary precautions, taken by the hitherto im- 
movable Turk, with regard to cholera that was still 
far away and in an entirely different direction, were 
a mystery to all, although every person knew that 
the ostensible purpose was not the real one. Now 
that the tidings from Moosh have come in, the mys- 



A Chapter of Horrors. 4 1 

tery of the series of cordons between here and Har- 
poot is explained. There is very strong evidence 
that a general massacre or a series of massacres of 
Christians has been understood by the local govern- 
ments to be the order of the day. It is not likely 
that a definite order to that effect has been given 
out from the Capitol, but multitudes of recent events 
go to show that the everlasting persecutions and 
annoyances, and the methods used in past times to 
grind down the Christians, have come to be regarded 
as insufficient. Everywhere there is an activity, a 
watchfulness, and an energy displayed by the gov- 
ernment in the recent efforts to encompass the 
Christians and to cut off their name and existence, 
that point to a newly formed plan to be put into ex- 
ecution with as little waste of time as possible. Woe 
to the poor remnant in this land if the European and 
American governments disregard recent events in 
Turkey ! Christian nations in that case, even if they 
do not directly participate in what will certainly fol- 
low sooner or later, cannot be held guiltless of the 
blood of their fellow-men. . . . 

Another case in which I was concerned has gone 
the same way. Last spring a Protestant woman in 
Y. was assaulted and violated by three Turks. They 
were tried in F. and found guilty ; but that infamous 
court in S., under the influence of the still more 
infamous Mutesarif (Governor), having recently 
reviewed the case, reversed the original judgment 
and released the guilty. There is no remedy. No 
appeal can be made. The only thing that can be 
done is to prosecute the court in S., but that, in the 



42 The Crisis in Turkey. 

present state of things, would be utterly useless. 
The result will be that such crimes will become more 
frequent than ever — the perpetrators feeling confi- 
dent that there is very little likelihood of punishment 
being meted out to them. 

The government pretends to look with special 
suspicion on H. just now. The ^/^(Governor-Gen- 
eral) claims there are secret societies here. I told 
him there is nothing of the kind in H. now. The 
poor people are afraid to open their mouths or to go 
out of their houses. You can scarcely conceive the 
change that has come over the people within the past 
few months. Terror and amazement have taken 
hold of them to such an extent as to become mani- 
fest in their countenances even. All arms and 
weapons are being taken from the people here these 
days. 

The Kaimakam (local Governor) and other officers 
walk the streets and the K. road every night. 
Attempts have been made by officers and soldiers 
to draw Christians into a quarrel, but they have 
hitherto failed. One night this week, the Commis- 
saire (Chief of Police) without any provocation fired 
three times at a Christian, but the other offered no 
resistance. Moslem officers are taking possession of 
the property of Christians and doing just as they 
please without regard to law or justice. . . 

The church and school in O. have been closed 
and for two months now the people have not been 
allowed to come together for worship. They are 
forbidden even to have prayers offered in their 
houses. 



CHAPTER II. 

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT EASTERN 

TURKEY. 

IN order that the ordinary reader may grasp the 
situation in Armenia, information is given at 
this point in regard to the country itself, its ad- 
ministration, the elements that compose the popula- 
tion, and their relations to one another. 

The massacre took place in the mountainous Sas- 
soun district just south of Moosh, two days' ride 
west of Bitlis, a large city where the Provincial-Gov- 
ernor and a permanent military force reside. It is 
near the western end of Lake Van, about eight hun- 
dred miles east of Constantinople, two hundred and 
fifty miles south of Trebizond on the Black Sea, and 
only one hundred and fifty miles from the Russian 
and Persian frontiers of Asiatic Turkey. These dis- 
tances do not seem great until the difficulties of 
travel are considered. The roads are, in most cases, 
bridle paths, impassable for vehicles, without bridges, 
infested with highwaymen, and unprovided with 
lodging-places. It is, therefore, necessary to go to 
the expense of hiring government guards, and to 
burden oneself with all articles likely to be needed 
on the way — tents, food supplies, cooking utensils, 

43 



44 The Crisis in Turkey. 

beds, etc., which also imply cooks, baggage horses, 
and grooms. Thus equipped, it is possible, after 
obtaining the necessary government permits, often a 
matter of vexatious delay, to move about the coun- 
try. The ordinary rate is from twenty to thirty 
miles a day. With a good horse and no baggage I 
have gone three hundred and fifty miles, from Har- 
poot to Van, in eight days, but that was quite ex- 
ceptional. In spring, swollen streams and mud ; in 
summer, oppressive heat ; and in winter, storms, are 
serious impediments. In the neighborhood of Bitlis 
the telegraph poles are sometimes buried, and horses 
cannot be taken out of the stables on account of 
the snow. The mails are often weeks behind, both 
in arriving and departing, and even Turkish light- 
ning seems to be yavash, and crawl sluggishly along 
the wires. 

Turkish Armenia — by the way, " Armenia " is a 
name prohibited in Turkey — is a large plateau quad- 
rangular in shape, and sixty thousand square miles 
in area, about the size of Iowa. It is bounded on 
the north by the Russian frontier, a line from the 
Black Sea to Mount Ararat, by Persia on the east, the 
Mesopotamian plain on the south, and Asia Minor 
on the west. It contains about six hundred thousand 
Armenians, which is only one fourth the number 
found in all Turkey. The surface is rough, consist- 
ing of valleys and plains from four to six thousand 
feet above sea-level, broken and shut in by bristling 
peaks and mountain ranges, from ten to seventeen 
thousand feet high, as in the case of Ararat. Ancient 
Armenia greatly varied in extent at different epochs, 



Information about Eastern Turkey. 45 

reaching to the Caspian at one time, and even bor- 
dering on the Mediterranean Sea during the Crusades. 
It included the Southern Caucasus, which now con- 
tains a large, growing, prosperous, and happy Arme- 
nian population under the Czar, whose government 
allows them the free exercise of their ancestral re- 
ligion, and admits them to many high civil and mili- 
tary positions. The Armenians now number about 
four million, of whom two million five hundred 
thousand are in Turkey, one million two hundred 
and fifty thousand in Russia, one hundred and fifty 
thousand in Persia and other parts of Asia, one hun- 
dred thousand scattered through Europe, and five 
thousand in the United States. 

The scenery, while harsh, owing to the lack of ver- 
dure, is on a grand scale. Around the shores of the 
great Van Lake are many views of entrancing beauty. 
The climate is temperate and the atmosphere bril- 
liant and stimulating. It is a dry, treeless region, 
but fertile under irrigation, and abounding in mineral 
wealth, including coal. Owing to primitive methods 
of agriculture, and to danger while reaping and eVen 
planting crops, only a small part is under cultivation, 
and frequent famines are the result. The mineral 
resources are entirely untouched, because the Turks 
lack both capital and brains to develop them, and 
prevent foreigners from doing it lest this might 
open the door for further European inspection and 
interference with their methods of administering the 
country. 

All local authority is practically in the hands of 
the Valis, provincial governors, who are sent from 



46 The Crisis in Turkey. 

Constantinople to represent the sovereign, and are 
accountable to him alone. The blind policy which 
was inaugurated by the present Sultan of dismissing 
non-Moslems from every branch of public service — 
post, telegraph, custom-house, internal revenue, en- 
gineering, and the like — has already been carried out 
to a large extent all over the empire, and especially 
in Armenia. The frequent changes in Turkish offi- 
cials keeps their business in a state of "confusion 
worse confounded," and incites them to improves 
their chance to plunder while it lasts. Traces of the 
relatively large revenue, wrung from the people, and 
spent in improvements of service to them, are very 
hard to find. 

THE INHABITANTS. / 

Probably about one half of the population of 
Turkish Armenia is Mohammedan, composed of 
Turks and Kurds. The former are mostly found in 
and near the large cities, such as Erzingan, Baibourt, 
Erzerum, and Van, and the plains along the northern 
part. The Kurds live in their mountain villages 
over the whole region. The term Kurdistan, which 
in this region the Turkish Government is trying to 
substitute for the historical one Armenia, has no 
political or geographical propriety except as indicat- 
ing the much larger area over which the Kurds are 
scattered. In this vague sense it applies to a stretch 
of mountainous country about fifteen hundred miles 
in length, starting between Erzingan and Malatiah, 
and sweeping east and south over into Persia as far 
as Kermanshah. 




A KURD OF THE OLD TYPE, 



47 



48 The Crisis in Turkey. 

The number of the Kurds is very uncertain. Neither 
Sultan nor Shah has ever attempted a census of them ; 
and as they are very indifferent taxpayers, the revenue 
tables — wilfully distorted for political purposes — are 
quite unreliable. From the .estimates of British con- 
sular officers there appear to be about one and a half 
million Turkish Kurds, of whom about 600,000 are in 
the vilayets of Erzroom, Van, and Bitlis, and the rest 
in the vilayets of Harpoot, Diarbekir, Mosul, and 
Bagdad. This is a very liberal estimate. There are 
also supposed to be about 750,000 in Persia. 1 

The Kurds, whose natural instincts lead them to a 
pastoral and predatory life, are sedentary or nomad 
according to local and climatic circumstances. Where 
exposed to a severe mountain winter they live ex- 
clusively in villages, and in the case of Bitlis have 
even formed a large part of the city population. But 
the tribes in the south, who have access to the Meso- 
potamian plains, prefer a migratory life, oscillating 
with the season between the lowlands and the moun- 
tains. The sedentary greatly outnumber the nomad 
Kurds, but the latter are more wealthy, independent, 
and highly esteemed. There is, probably, little eth- 
nic distinction between the two classes. 

A fourteenth-century list of Kurdish tribes contains 
many names identical with those of powerful families 
who claim a remote ancestry. " There was, up to a 
recent period, no more picturesque or interesting 
scene to be witnessed in the East than the court of 
one of these great Kurdish chiefs, where, like another 
Saladin, [who was a Kurd himself,] the bey ruled in 

1 JLncyc^ Britannica x "Kurdistan," 



Information about Eastern Turkey. 49 

patriarchal state, surrounded by hereditary nobility, 
regarded by his clansmen with reverence and affec- 
tion, and attended by a body-guard of young Kurdish 
warriors, clad in chain armor, with flaunting silken 
scarfs, and bearing javelin, lance, and sword as in the 
time of the crusaders." 1 Within two days' ride 
southeast of Van, I found the ruins of four massive 
Kurdish castles at Shaddakh, Norduz,Bashkallah, and 
Khoshab, which must have rivalled those of the feudal 
barons on the Rhine. The Armenian and Nestorian 
villagers were much better off as serfs of the power- 
ful masters of these strongholds than as the victims 
of Kurdish plunder and of Ottoman taxation and 
oppression which they now are. 

The Kurds are naturally brave and hospitable, and, 
in common with many other Asiatic races, possess 
certain rude but strict feelings of honor. But since 
their power has been broken by the Turks, their 
castles ruined, and their chiefs exiled, these finer 
qualities and more chivalrous sentiments have also 
largely disappeared under the principle of noblesse 
oblige reversed. In most regions they have degener- 
ated into a wild, lawless set of brigands, proud, 
treacherous, and cruel. The traditions of their for- 
mer position and power serve only to feed their 
hatred of the Turks who caused their fall, and their 
jealousy and contempt of the Christians who have 
been for generations their serfs, whose progress and 
increase they cannot tolerate. 

One who has a taste for adventure and is willing 
to take his life in his hands, can find among them as 

1 Encyc. Britannica x "Kurdistan," 
4 



5<d The Crisis in Turkey. 

fine specimens of the human animal as are to be 
found anywhere — sinewy, agile, and alert, with a 
steady penetrating eye as cool, cold, and cruel as that 




RUINS OF A KURDISH CASTLE AT KHOSHAB. 

of a tiger. I vividly recollect having just this impres- 
sion under circumstances analogous to that of a 
hunter who suddenly finds himself face to face with 



Information about Eastern Turkey. 5 1 

a lord of the jungle. There was no sense of fear, at 
the time, but rather a keen delight and fascination in 
watching the magnificent creature before me. His 
thin aquiline face, his neck and hands were stained by 
the weather to a brown as delicate as that of a 
meerschaum pipe, and on his broad exposed breast 
the thick growth of hair obliterated any impression 
of nudeness. For a few moments he seemed engaged 
in some sinister calculation, but at last quietly moved 
away. Perhaps he wanted only a cigarette. Perhaps 
he wondered if I, too, had claws. The Winchester 
rifle behind his back did not escape my notice, nor 
did the gun across my saddle escape his. It is hardly 
necessary to remind those who may desire such ex- 
periences as the above, that the usual retinue of cooks, 
servants, and zabtiehs should be dispensed with in 
order to secure the best opportunities for observation. 

The Kurdish costumes, always picturesque, show 
much local variation in cut and color. The beys 
and khans of the colder north almost invariably pre- 
fer broadcloth, and find the finest fabrics and richest 
shades — specially imported for them — none too good. 
But the loose flowing garments of the Sheikhs and 
wealthy Kocher nomads of the south are often very 
inexpensive, and suggest Arab simplicity and dig- 
nity. There is, no doubt, considerable Arab blood 
in some of these families, who refer to the fact with 
pride. 

The women of the Kurds, contrary to usual Mo- 
hammedan custom, go unveiled and have large lib- 
erty, but there is no reason to suspect their virtue. 
Their prowess, also, is above reproach, and rash would 



52 The Crisis in Turkey. 

be the man, Turk or Christian, who would venture 
to invade the mountain home when left in charge of 
its female defenders. On the whole, the Kurds are 
a race of fine possibilities, far superior to the North 
American Indian, to whom they are often ignorantly 
compared. Under a just, intelligent, and firm gov- 
ernment much might be expected of them in time. 

They keep up a strict tribal relation, owing alle- 
giance to their Sheikhs, some of whom are still strong 
and rich, and engage in bitter feuds with one 
another. They could not stand a moment against 
the Ottoman power if determined to crush and dis- 
arm them. But three years ago His Majesty sum- 
moned the chiefs to the capital, presented them with 
decorations, banners, uniforms, and military titles, 
and sent them back to organize their tribes into 
cavalry regiments, on whom he was pleased to be- 
stow the name Hamedieh, after his own. Thus, 
shrewdly appealing to their pride of race, and wink- 
ing at their subsequent acts, the Sultan obtained a 
power eager in time of peace to crush Armenian 
growth and spirit, and a bulwark that might check, 
in his opinion, the first waves of the next dreaded 
Russian invasion. In the last war the Kurdish con- 
tingent was worse than useless as was shown by Mr. 
Norman, 1 of the London Times. 

The Armenians, a very important element of the 
population, are generally known as being bright, 
practical, industrious, and moral. They are of a 
very peaceable disposition, and entirely unskilled 
in the use of arms, the mere possession of which 

1 ArinwiQ 0<nd the Campaign of fSfy, 



Information about Eastern Turkey. 53 

is a serious crime in the case of Christians, al- 
though the Kurds are well equipped with modern 
rifles and revolvers, and always carry them. Their 
great and fundamental weakness, seen through all 
their history, is a lack of coherence, arising from 
their exaggerated individualism. They have the 
distinction of being the first race who accepted 
Christianity, King Dertad receiving baptism in 276 
A. D., thirty-seven years before Constantine ventured 
to issue even the Edict of Toleration. Their martyr 
roll has grown with every century. The fact that 
the Armenian stock exists at all to-day, is proof of 
its wonderful vitality and excellent quality. For 
three thousand years Armenia, on account of her 
location, has been trampled into dust both by devas- 
tating armies and by migrating hordes. She has 
been the prey of Nebuchadnezzar, Xerxes, and Alex- 
ander; of the Romans, the Parthians, and Persians; 
of Byzantine, Saracen, and Crusader ; of Seljuk and 
Ottoman, and Russian and Kurd. Through this 
awful record, the Christian church founded by 
Gregory, " The Illuminator," has been the one rally- 
ing point and source of strength, and this explains 
the tremendous power of the Cross on the hearts of 
all, even of the most ignorant peasant. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE CHRONIC CONDITION OF ARMENIA 
AND KURDISTAN. 

MANY statements in regard to the state of 
affairs in Eastern Turkey are criticised as 
being too sweeping and general, and the in- 
ference is drawn that they are exaggerations, not 
based on exact knowledge of the facts. This chap- 
ter will, therefore, contain nothing but definite inci- 
dents and figures, names and places also being added 
regardless of consequences. This information is fur- 
nished by a trustworthy authority on the ground, and 
has already been published in The Independent, of 
New York, January 17, 1895, from which I quote 
verbatim. It shows the usual course of things in 
times of so-called peace between Kurds and their 
Christian slaves, and indicates to what sort of a life 
these Armenian, Jacobite, and Nestorian Christians 
are condemned when no massacre is in hand. From 
my own residence and travels in Armenia, I know 
that the incidents related would apply to hundreds 
of villages with simply a change of name. 

"A Partial List of Exactions made upon the Village 
of Mansurieh of BoJitan (Kaimakamlik of Jezireh) 
by the government, and by Mustapha Pasha, a Kurd- 
ish Kocher, or nomad chief, in 1893 : 

54 



Condition of A rrnenia and Kurdistan. 5 5 



SUMMARY. 



f Excess of official de- 

| mand 3,ooo ps. 1 

r Government Exaction ■{ Amount of double tax 4,000 

Produce taken by gen- 
[ darmes 2,000 9,000 ps. 

2 Exaction by M. Pasha. Excess of tithe revenue 1,500 

Damage to crops 2,000 3,5°° 

Total excess taken from village for 1893 . , 1 2, 500 

Total of legitimate taxes on village for the year. . . 14,000 

The village complained to the government of 
Mustapha Pasha's exactions, but no redress was given 
by the government, nor anything done to Mustapha 
Pasha, who, when he learned of their having made 
complaint, sent droves of sheep to devour the crops 
that remained, viz., five pieces of ground sown and 
bearing cotton, millet, flaxseed, etc., valued at 2000 

piasters." 

"Partial List of Exaction by Aghas of Shemakh (one 
day north of Jezireh), from Hassana of Bohtan, dur- 
ing years 1891-93. Hassana has sixty houses : 

Use of 30 men to carry flour for Mohammed 

Agha, 2 days 150 ps. 

For Mohammed Agha, cash 10 liras 1, 000 

" " " 15 pieces of cloth 15° 

" Taher Agha, cash 14 liras I ,4°° 

" " taken from village priest, cash 

75 ps., saddle 75 ps., watch 

200 ps 35° 

" Sahdoon Agha, cash 2 liras 200 

" Mohammed I2 ° 

Carried forward 3,370 ps. 

1 A piastre is a Turkish coin of about five cents, or two pence- 
half penny. In this region the pay of a day laborer is from two to 
five piastres. 



56 The Crisis in Turkey. 

Brought forward , 3,370 ps. 

For Khorsheed 57 

Mohammed Agha, harvest, 500 men at 3 ps. . 1,500 
' ' repair of his roads, 65 men, 

3 days.. 4 8 7 

" repair of his roads, 50 men, 

3 days 375 

' ' preparation of boiled wheat 

for winter, 450 men and 

14 animals 1,160 

" building house in Dader, 

150 men 375 

" 2000 ceiling sticks, 10 

posts . 554 

' ' 4 large trees for rafters, at 

50 ps 200 

Total for 1893 8,078 ps. 

The above were noted in a book at the time of the 
occurrence by a village priest, as being seen by him 
personally, and do not give the great part of the ex- 
actions of the Shernakh Kurds, which he did not see. 

One item additional to above : all the cotton of 
Mohammed Agha of Shernakh is, by the villagers, 
beaten, spun, twisted, woven, and returned as cloth 
(involving many days' labor and two days' journey), 
and any weight lost in the making up the amount 
must be made good. 

This oppression is increasing from year to year. 
The above priest noted for years i88o-'82, taken by 
Aghas — cash, 4141 ps. ; 90 animals used, 450 ps. ; 
314 men used, 785 ps. Total for three years, 5376, 
as over against 10,973 ps. for three years, i89i-'93." 

" Testimony given in writing, by a Christian of the 
District of Berwer, in reference to the oppression of 
Christians in that district by the Kurds, of which he 
himself was an eye-witness, the examples given being 
confined to three small villages and of recent occur- 



Condition of Armenia and Kurdistan. 57 

rence. . He gives the names of places and of the 
parties concerned, both Kurds and Christians. We 
summarize them. 

Murders.— Eight men mentioned by name, others 
generalized. 

Robbery. — Cash, 9 liras ; again 10 liras ; again 15 
liras ; smaller sums being taken continually. 

Mohammed Beg, of Berwer, and his relatives re- 
sponsible in greater part for the above; also for 
robbing of two houses in Ina D'Noony. 

For generations these Christians have sown the 
fields of these Kurds, harvested them, done their 
threshing, irrigated their fields, cut and brought in 
the grass as fodder for the sheep for use during the 
winter, together with much other labor, and all with- 
out recompense, they finding themselves. 

(These things are accompanied, of course, with 
cursings and beatings.) " 

" A number of Christian villages lying farther back 
in the mountains are even more severely oppressed. 
The people are literally bought and sold as slaves. 
In other districts the buying and selling of Christians 
by Kurds is common." 

" Village of Shakh (five hours from Jezireh) ; like 
Mansurieh deserted for months by reason of extor- 
tion by tax collectors. Many of the people lived 
during the winter in caves in the mountains." 

"The writer was in Nahrwan when the Kaimakam 
of Jezireh came, several weeks after a murder, to 
examine into it. The examination was rendered 
so oppressive to the Christians that the people were 
glad to declare that nothing had happened, in order to 



58 The Crisis in Turkey. 

escape any further inquisition. Even the old mother 
of the murdered man was frightened until she de- 
clared that she did not know of any such occurrence, 
and had no complaints to make against anybody." 

" Kannybalaver — Kaimakamlik of Amadia. Dur- 
ing the years i893-'94 this village was raided sev- 
eral times by the Gugier and Sendier Kurds of the 
Kaimakamlik of Jezireh. They took one hundred 
head of animals, field tools, household utensils, beds, 
wool and yarn, gall-nuts — all of their fall gathering, — 
and dry goods which had been brought in to sell. 
At their last visit everything movable was carried 
off, and the people deserted the village. A leading 
man of the village, Gegoo by name, was seized by 
the Kurds, carried for several miles, and was then 
murdered in cold blood. There were about one hun- 
dred Kurds in the band led by Ahrno, brother of 
Hassu of Ukrul and Kerruvanu. The chief men of 
their village are SherrifTu and Hassu, who would be 
responsible for such a raid." 

" In the city of Mosul, where there is a Vali, Chris- 
tians are robbed and killed openly. Three cases are 
given. Last year a young man, of the Protestant com- 
munity, of high standing in the city as a merchant, 
was standing before his door when two young Kurds 
of notorious character came along, and one of them, 
without the slightest provocation, at the time or 
previously/from mere wantonness, stabbed him, and 
would have killed him had he not been restrained. 
The family of the man, though one of the most in- 
fluential families among the Christians of the city, 
did not dare to make accusation against him, know- 
ing that the only result would be more bloodshed," 



Condition of Armenia and Kurdistan, 59 

" An old missionary who has been familiar with the 
region from Bohtan to Amadia for years, says these 
oppressions are increasing, and unless something is 
done speedily, all the Christian villages of these 
various districts will soon fall into the hands of the 
Kurds just as they have in Zabur." 

" These instances of oppression given are but a few 
of the many which might be given. Indeed it is 
not these greater occurrences, as the big raids and 
murders, which are the most serious to the Chris- 
tian. It is the daily constant exactions and oppres- 
sions which are crushing the life out of them." 

A whole chapter might well be devoted to the 
oppression by government officials in assessing and 
collecting taxes. This evil is general, affecting all 
Turkey. A brief summary of these abuses as gener- 
ally practised will be given. In view of the poverty- 
stricken condition of the land, even the legitimate 
taxes are an exceedingly heavy burden on Moslem 
and Christian alike, but the burden is greatly in- 
creased by the methods here classified : 



SUMMARY OF ABUSES. 

"I. Unjust and corrupt assessments. 

1. Villagers are compelled to give assessors pres- 
ents of money to prevent them from over estimating 
the taxable persons and property. 

2. Assessors, to secure additional bribes, signify 
their willingness to make an underestimate. This, 
in turn, affords opportunity for blackmail, which is 
used by succeeding officials." 



60 The Crisis in Turkey. 

"II. Injustice and severity in collecting. 

1. The collectors, like the assessors, have ways of 
extorting presents and bribes from the people. 

2. The collectors, as a rule, go to the villages on 
Sunday, as on that day they find the people in the 
village. They frequently interrupt the Christian 
services, and show disrespect to their churches or 
places of prayer. 

3. The collection of the taxes is accompanied with 
unnecessary abuse and reviling, sometimes even with 
wanton destruction of property. 

4. Disregard of impoverished condition of people. 
Even after several failures of crops in succession, 
when famine was so severe that the people were 
many of them being fed by foreign charity, the 
taxes were collected in full and with severity. 

Their food supply, beds, household utensils, and 
farming implements were seized by the collectors in 
lieu of taxes. Many were compelled to borrow 
, monev at enormous rates of interest, mortgaging- 
their fields and future crops. Unscrupulous officials 
and other Kurds, in whose interests such opportu- 
nities are created, thus became possessed of Christian 
villages, the people of which henceforth becoming 
practically slaves to them. 

5. These collectors make false returns of taxes 
received. The official in the city is secured by a 
bribe, and the matter is kept quiet until a succeed- 
ing set of officials come into office. They send their 
officers to the villages to present claims for back 
taxes. The villagers in vain contend that they have 
paid them. They have no receipts. They do not 



Condition of Armenia and Kurdistan. 61 

dare to ask for them. Or the head man of the vil- 
lage who keeps the account has been bribed to falsify 
his accounts. These taxes are collected again, en- 
tailing much suffering upon the people. 

6. The books in the government offices at the 
Kaimakamlik are often incorrect through mistakes 
or dishonesty, and in consequence taxes are paid on 
fictitious names or on persons who have been dead 
for years." 

" III. Farm ing of taxes. 

Taxes are often farmed out to the highest bidder, 
who usually is some powerful Kurdish chief. Either 
in consequence of his power, or by means of bribes, 
he is secure from interference on the part of the 
government. He collects the amount due the gov- 
ernment and then takes for himself as much as he 
chooses, his own will or an exhausted threshing-floor 
being the only limit to his rapacity. 

While he is collector for these villages they are 
considered as belonging to him. During the year 
his followers pay frequent visits to the villages. 
They are ignorant and brutal, and on such visits, as 
also when collecting taxes, they treat the villagers 
with the utmost severity." 

" IV. All the above assessors and collectors — and 
they are many, a different one for each kind of tax, 
personal, house and land, sheep, tobacco, etc. — on 
their visits to the villages, take with them a retinue 
of servants and soldiers, who, with their horses, must 
be kept at the expense of the village, thus entailing 
a very heavy additional burden upon them. Sol- 
diers and servants sent to the villagers to make 



62 The Crisis in Turkey. 

collections, very naturally take something for them- 
selves." 

All the preceding testimony refers to regions where 
Jacobite and Nestorian Christians predominate and 
thus prove that Armenians are by no means the only 
sufferers. 

The same state of affairs was found by Mrs. 
Bishop, who made investigations on the ground five 
years ago. 

" On the whole, the same condition of alarm pre- 
vails among the Armenians as I witnessed previ- 
ously among the Syrian 1 rayahs. It is more than 
alarm, it is abject terror, and not without good 
reason. In plain English, general lawlessness pre- 
vails over much of this region. Caravans are stopped 
and robbed, travelling is, for Armenians, absolutely 
unsafe, sheep and cattle are being driven off, and 
outrages, which it would be inexpedient to narrate, 
are being perpetrated. Nearly all the villages have 
been reduced to extreme poverty, while at the same 
time they are squeezed for the taxes which the 
Kurds have left them without the means of paying. 

The repressive measures which have everywhere 
followed 'the Erzerum troubles' of last June [1890] 
— the seizure of arms, the unchecked ravages of the 
Kurds, the threats of the Kurdish Beys, who are 
boldly claiming the sanction of the government for 
their outrages, the insecurity of the women, and a 
dread of yet worse to come — have reduced these 
peasants to a pitiable state." 2 

1 Often called Nestorian. 

2 Mrs. Isabella Bird Bishop, yourneys in Persia and Kurdistan, 
vol. ii., p. 374, 375. 



Condition of Armenia and Kurdistan. 63 

Through the influence of the British Ambassador 
at Constantinople Mrs. Bishop was allowed to state 
the situation to the Grand Vizier in person, and on 
arriving in England she presented a detailed state- 
ment of facts to the Foreign Office and also to a 
Parliamentary Committee. 

That the recent outrages in Sassoun are conspicu- 
ous by their extent rather than character, the follow- 
ing incident, which came within the author's own 
knowledge, on the ground at the time, will show. 
In June, 1893, four young Armenians and their 
wives, living only two miles from the city of Van, 
where the Governor and a large military force reside, 
were picking herbs on the hillside. They carefully 
kept together and intended to return before night. 
They were observed by a band of passing Kurds, 
who, in broad daylight, fell upon the defenceless 
party, butchered the young men, and, as to the 
brides, it is needless to relate further. The villagers 
going out the next day found the four bodies, not 
simply dead, but slashed and disfigured almost be- 
yond recognition. They resolved to make a des-' 
perate effort to let their wrongs at least be known. 

Hastily yoking up four rude ox carts, they placed 
on each the naked remains of one of the victims, 
with his distracted widow sitting by the side, shorn 
of her hair in token of dishonor. This gruesome 
procession soon reached the outskirts of the city, 
where it was met by soldiers sent to turn it back. 
The unarmed villagers offer no resistance, but declare 
their readiness to perish if not heard. The soldiers 
shrink from extreme measures that might cause 



64 The Crisis in Turkey. 

trouble among the thirty thousand Armenians of 
Van, who are now rapidly gathering about the scene. 
The Turkish bayonets retreat before the bared 
breasts of the villagers. With ever increasing 
numbers, but without tumult, the procession passed 
before the doors of the British and Russian Vice- 
Consulates, of the Persian Consul-General, the Chief 
of Police and other high officials, till it paused be- 
fore the great palace of the Governor. 

At this point Bahri Pasha, who is still Governor, 
stuck his head out of the second-story window and 
said : " I see it. Too bad ! Take them away and 
bury them. I will do what is necessary." Within 
two days some Kurds were brought in, among whom 
were several who were positively identified by the 
women ; but, upon their denying the crime, they 
were immediately released and escaped. The utter 
hopelessness of securing any justice was so apparent, 
and experience had so often demonstrated the dan- 
ger of arousing the Kurds to greater atrocity by 
further efforts to punish them, that the case was 
dropped and soon forgotten in the callousness pro- 
duced by other cases of frequent occurrence. The 
system of mail inspection is so effective (all letters 
of subjects must be handed in open at the post-office) 
and the danger of reporting is so great that I doubt 
that any account of this incident has ever been 
given to the civilized world. This case was doubtless 
reported by the former British Vice-Consul, unless 
he was busy hunting, and, as usual, was buried in the 
archives of the Foreign Office for " state reasons." 

A foreign physician, never a missionary, and now 



Condition of Armenia and Kurdistan. 65 

out of the country, told me that during a large prac- 
tice of a year and a half in Armenia, while using 
every effort to save life, only one case was remem- 
bered of regret by the doctor for a fatal ending, — so 
sad is the lot of those who survive. This instance 
will explain the strange statement. A call came to 
see a young man sent home from prison in a dying 
condition. He could not speak, and had to be nour- 
ished for days by artificial feeding, because his stom- 
ach could not retain food. Constant and skilful care 
for a month brought him back to life, from the con- 
dition to which his vile, dark, unventilated cell and 
scanty food had brought him. As soon as the police 
learned of his unexpected recovery, he was seized and 
re-imprisoned, though an only son, with a widowed 
mother and sister dependent upon him. When 
last heard of, he was still " awaiting trial." Such 
confinement is a favorite method of intimidation 
and blackmail in the case of the innocent, and, in 
the case of the guilty, amounts to punishment with- 
out the cost and labor involved in proving the guilt 
and securing sentence by legal process. 

From my own house in Van goods of considerable 
value were stolen in November, 1893. Though I 
had good clews to the guilty parties and would have 
been glad to recover my property, I felt constrained 
to use every precaution not to let the affair come to 
the ears of the police, lest they should use it as a 
pretext for searching the houses of many innocent 
Armenians, in the hope of finding a letter, book, or 
weapon of some kind, which might serve as an ex- 
cuse for imprisonment, This course exposed me to 

5 



66 The Crisis in Turkey. 

further attacks of thieves and necessitated a night 
watchman. 

WHY ARE THESE FACTS NOT KNOWN ? 

The ignorance and incredulity of the public is a 
most significant commentary on the situation. But 
the explanation is simple. In the nature of the case, 
in reports of outrages where the victims or their 
friends are still within the clutches of the Turks, all 
names of individuals and often the exact locality 
must be concealed. Such anonymous accounts 
naturally arouse little interest, and, of course, cannot 
be verified. The former British Consul-General at 
Erzerum, Mr. Clifford Lloyd, showed me at that 
place many such reports sent to him by members of 
Parliament for verification. He was unable to verify 
them, but said that the reports gave a correct im- 
pression of the condition of the country. At that 
very time, October, 1890, Mr. Lloyd called atten- 
tion, in an official dispatch, published in the " Blue 
Books" to : 

" 1. The insecurity of the lives and properties of the 
Armenians. 2. The insecurity of their persons, and 
the absence of all liberty of thought and action. 3. 
The unequal status held by the Christian as compared 
with the Mussulman in the eyes of the government." 

On this subject there are five channels of varying 
market value. First. Consular reports, meagre 
and often inaccessible. The United States has no 
consuls in Armenia, and consequently no " official" 
knowledge of its condition. European consuls are 
expected to report nothing that they are not abso- 



Condition of Armenia and Kurdistan. 6 J 

lutely sure of, and are given to understand, both by 
their own governments and by that of Turkey, that 
they must not make themselves obnoxious in seeking 
information. They are, at best, passive until their 
aid is sought, and then alarm the suppliants by refus- 
ing to touch the case unless allowed to use names. 
Second. Missionaries, whose mouths are sealed. 
They would be the best informed and most trust- 
worthy witnesses. But they feel it their first duty to 
safeguard the great benevolent and educational in- 
terests committed to them by not exciting the sus- 
picion and hostility of the government. Their 
position is a delicate one, conditional on their neu- 
trality, like that of officers of the Red Cross Society 
in war. Third. Occasional travellers, whose first 
impressions are also often their last and whose hasty 
jottings are likely to be very interesting and may be 
very misleading. Not so in the case of Mrs. Isabella 
Bird Bishop, whom I had the pleasure of meeting 
there, and who embodied the result of her careful in- 
vestigations in an article entitled, " The Shadow of 
the Kurd " in The Contemporary Reviezu. 1 Fourth. 
Much evidence from Armenian sources, which is 
often unjustly discredited as being the exaggeration, 
if not fabrication, of " revolutionists who seek a 
political end." Fifth. Turkish official reports, often 
obtained by corrupt or violent means, or invented to 
suit the circumstances. Though the financial credit 
of the Ottoman Government was long ago exhausted, 
there are some well meaning people who still place 
confidence in Turkish explanations and promises. 

1 The Contemporary Review, May and June, 1891. 



68 The Crisis in Turkey. 

WHAT CAN BE DONE ? 

The scope of this book does not permit a discus- 
sion of even the Armenian phase of the Eastern 
question, beyond a bare reference to its possible 
three-fold solution. There is, first, Russian annexa- 
tion, a step for which the sufferers themselves are 
praying, and which Russia is prepared to execute at 
a moment's notice. If this were the only alterna- 
tive from present conditions, it should be universally 
welcomed. Russia is crude, stupid, and, in certain 
aspects, brutal, but she is not decrepit, debauched, 
and doting like official Turkey. The diseases of the 
"Sick Man" are incurable and increasing, while the 
bully of the North is young, of good blood, and with 
an energy suggestive of a force of nature. Russia 
shaves half the head of seceders from the Orthodox 
Church and transports them. Turkey, with more 
tact, quietly " disposes " of converts from Islam, 
many of whom would step forth if the prospect were 
less than death. The Jewish question, from the 
Russian standpoint, is largely a social and industrial 
one, like the Chinese question in the United States. 
When the writer passed from Turkish Armenia into 
the Caucasus, it was from a desert to a garden ; 
from danger to perfect security ; from want and sor- 
row to plenty and cheer. 

Until lately, thousands of Turkish Armenians have 
oeen in the habit of crossing the Russian border in 
spring, earning good wages during the summer, and 
returning to spend the winter with their families. 
This has opened their eyes to the contrast between 
the two lands and turned their hearts to Russia, 



Condition of Armenia and Kurdistan. 69 

The second solution is Armenian autonomy, like 
that of Bulgaria, the fond dream of those who 
ignore the geographical difficulties, the character, 
and distribution of the population, and the temper 
of Russia and other powers by whom it would have 
to be established and maintained. 

The only other method is radical and vigorous ad- 
ministrative reforms, which the European powers 
should initiate, and report to Turkey, instead of vice 
versa, as arranged in Article LXI. of the Berlin 
Treaty. These "Christian nations" have for six- 
teen years violated most sacred treaty obligations, 
and England a special guarantee for such reforms. 
While attended with difficulties, this is the most 
desirable solution, and is favored by the great mass 
of Armenians throughout Turkey, by the Anglo- 
Armenian Association, 1 founded by Prof. James 
Bryce, M.P., and by the Phil-Armenic Society in this 
country. 2 The real spirit and aim of the Armenian 
race, as a whole, is unfortunately obscured, in the 
mind of the public, by utterances and acts of a few 
irresponsible Armenian hot-heads, who have imbibed 
nihilistic views in Europe, and are trying, in a very 
bungling way, to apply them. 

1 The Case for the Ar?nenians. London: Anglo-Armenian Asso- 
ciation. 

2 An Appeal to the Christians of America by the Christians of Ar- 
menia. New York : Phil-Armenic Society. 



CHAPTER IV. 

OTTOMAN PROMISES AND THEIR FUL- 
FILMENT. 

IMPERIAL edicts of toleration, and promises of 
reform on the part of the Sublime Porte, have 
been very numerous, and have served Turkey 
well as political expedients. Their value is that of 
so much dust thrown in the eyes of Europe when 
her aid or her mercy was needful. As these reforms 
have all been promised under pressure, they have 
likewise been abandoned just so fast and so far 
as the pressure has been removed. In many cases 
there has been serious retrogression. The sow that 
is washed is forever returning to wallow in the mire. 
It is as true of the " Sick Man " as of him out of 
whom seven devils were cast, that the last state of 
that man is worse than the first. This is emphat- 
ically so in regard to the freedom of the press, the 
curtailment of religious and educational privileges, 
and the safety of the lives and property of 
Christians. 

The following is a partia. list of Turkish promises 
which have been broken in whole or in part, with 
the circumstances under which they were made. 

i. In 1829, by the Treaty of Adrianople at the 
close of a war with Russia, Turkey promised to re- 

70 



Ottoman Promises and their Fulfilment, 7 1 

form in her treatment of Orthodox Christians, and 
acknowledged Russia's right to interfere in their 
behalf. 1 

2. In 1839 Sultan Abd-ul-Medjid, in order to en- 
list European sympathy and aid — when the victori- 
ous Egyptian army under Ibrahim Pasha was threat- 
ening Constantinople — issued an Imperial rescript, 
the Hatti Sherif, in which he promised to protect 
the life, honor, and property of all his subjects irre- 
spective of race or religion. 

3. In 1844 the same Sultan Abd-ul-Medjid gave a 
solemn pledge that thenceforth no apostate from 
Mohammedanism who had formerly been a Christian 
should be put to death. This pledge was extorted 
from the Sultan by the Ambassador of Great Britain, 
supported by those of other Powers, after the public 
execution in Constantinople of a young Armenian, 
Ovagim, who had declared himself a Mohammedan, 
but who afterwards bravely maintained his Christian 
profession in the face of torture and death. Since 
that time many Moslems even have embraced Chris- 
tianity, and have been put out of the way, quietly in 
most cases. 

4. In 1850 the same Sultan, on the demand of the 
same Powers, in view of the continued and fierce per- 
secution of the Protestant subjects of the Porte, 
granted the latter a charter, guaranteeing them lib- 
erty of conscience and all the rights as a distinct 
civil community, which had been enjoyed by the 
other Christian communities of the empire. But to 
this day the numerous Protestants of Stamboul have 

1 Morfill's Russia, p. 287. Putnam. 



J 2 The Crisis in Turkey. 

never been allowed to erect even one church, although 
they have owned a site and had the necessary funds, 
and been petitioning for a firman to build for fifteen 
years. 1 The Greek Protestants of Ordoo, who have 
a church, are not allowed to worship in it. There 
are many other flagrant violations of this charter. 

5. In 1856, after the Crimean War, Sultan Abd-ul- 
Medjid,to anticipate demands which he knew would 
be included in the Treaty of Paris then being drawn 
up, issued the Imperial edict known as the Hatti 
Humayoun. This edict not only promised perfect 
equality of civil rights to all subjects of the Porte, 
but also added : " As all forms of religion are and 
shall be freely professed in my dominions, no subject 
of my empire shall be hindered in the exercise of the 
religion that he professes, nor shall he in any way be 
annoyed on this account." But as the interpretation 
and enforcement of this edict has remained absolutely 
in the hands of the Turkish Government, it is need- 
less to add that it has been a dead letter. 2 

6. In 1878 the Anglo-Turkish Convention, entered 
into just before the Treaty of Berlin, included these 

1 Rev. H. O. Dwight, The Independent, New York, January 17, 1895. 

2 At the time of the Crimean War Lord Aberdeen said : 

" Notwithstanding the favorable opinion entertained by many, it 
is difficult to believe in the improvement of the Turks. It is true 
that, under the pressure of the moment, benevolent decrees may be 
issued ; but these, except under the eye of some Foreign Minister, 
are entirely neglected. Their whole system is radically vicious and 
inhuman. I do not refer to fables which may be invented at St. 
Petersburg or Vienna, but to numerous despatches of Lord Stratford 
(de Radcliffe) himself, and of our own consuls, who describe a fright- 
ful picture of lawless oppression and cruelty." (Sir Theodore Mar- 
tin's Life of the Prince Consort, vol. ii., p. 528.) Quoted by Canon 
MacColl, The Conte??iporary Reviezv, January, 1895. 



Ottoman Promises and their Fulfilment, 73 

words in its First Article: "His Imperial Majesty, 
the Sultan, promises to England to introduce neces- 
, sary reforms, to be agreed upon later between the 
two Powers, into the government and for the protec- 
tion of the Christian and other subjects of the Porte 
in these territories [Armenia] ; and in order to enable 
England to make necessary provision for executing 
her engagement [the keeping of Russia out of Ar- 
menia], His Imperial Majesty, the Sultan, further con- 
sents to assign the Island of Cyprus to be occupied and 
administered by England." Comment unnecessary. 
7. In July, 1878, by the Treaty of Berlin, religious 
liberty and the public exercise of all forms of religion 
were guaranteed in separate articles to the people 
of Bulgaria, Eastern Roumelia, Montenegro, Servia, 
Roumania, and finally to all subjects of the Porte in 
every part of the Ottoman Empire. Cases of glaring 
violation of the principle of religious liberty may be 
found in Appendix C. on The Censorship of the Press. 
The Sixty-first Article of the same treaty reads 
thus: "The Sublime Porte undertakes to carry out, 
without further delay, the improvements and re- 
forms demanded by local requirements in the prov- 
inces inhabited by the Armenians, and to guarantee 
their, security against the Circassians and Kurds. It 
will periodically make known the steps taken to this 
effect to the Powers, who will superintend their ap- 
plication." 

What the condition of Turkey was three years 
later, not simply in Armenia, but throughout Asia 
Minor, is shown by a report of Mr. Wilson, British 
Consul-General in Anatolia. 

" There has probably never been a time in which 



74 The Crisis in Turkey. 

the prestige of the Courts has fallen so low, or in 
which the administration of justice has been so venal 
and corrupt. The most open and shameless bribery 
is practised from highest to lowest ; prompt, even- 
handed justice for rich and poor alike is unknown; 
sentence is given in favor of the suitor who * places ' 
his money most judiciously ; imprisonment or free- 
dom has in many places become a matter of bribery ; 
robbers, when arrested, are protected by members of 
the Court, who share their spoil ; a simple order may 
send an innocent man to prison for months ; crime 
goes unpunished, and all manner of oppression and 
injustice is committed with impunity. The Cadis, 1 
especially those in the cazas, 2 are, as a rule, ignorant 
men, with no education, knowing little of law, except 
the Sheri, on which they base their decisions, and 
sometimes not overmuch of that. As to the mem- 
bers, it is sufficient to say that they are nearly all 
equally ignorant of law, and that probably not twenty- 
five per cent, of them can write Turkish, or read the 
sentences to which they attach their seals. In the 
Commercial Courts, the Presidents are frequently 
entirely ignorant of the duties which they have to 
perform. The low pay of the Cadis, the short term 
— two years — during which they hold their appoint- 
ments, and the manner in which they obtain them, 
render the receipt of bribes almost a necessity. The 
first thought of a Cadi who buys an appointment in 
the provinces is to recoup himself for his outlay ; 
the second, to obtain enough money to purchase a 
new place when his term of office is finished. Even 
under this system men are to be found who refuse 

1 Judge. 2 Local districts. 



Ottoman Promises and their Fulfilment, 75 

to receive bribes ; and there are others who, whilst 
giving way to temptation, deplore the necessity to 
do so." J 

The sequel to the Treaty of Berlin is found in 
the next chapter. 

The non-fulfilment of Ottoman promises in regard 
to Christian subjects, and the frequent massacres of 
the latter are an exact fulfilment of 

THE OFFICIAL PRAYER OF ISLAM 

which is used throughout Turkey, and daily repeated 
in the Cairo "Azhar" University by ten thousand 
Mohammedan students from all lands. The follow- 
ing translation is from the Arabic : 

" I seek refuge with Allah from Satan, [the rejeem~\ 
the accursed. In the name of Allah the Compas- 
sionate, the Merciful ! O Lord of all Creatures ! 
O Allah ! Destroy the infidels and polytheists, thine 
enemies, the enemies of the religion ! O Allah ! 
Make their children orphans, and defile their 
abodes ! Cause their feet to slip ; give them and 
their families, their households and their women, 
their children and their relations by marriage, their 
brothers and their friends, their possessions and 
their race, their wealth and their lands, as booty to 
the Moslems, O Lord of all Creatures!" 2 

All who do not accept Mohammed are included 
among "the infidels" referred to in the prayer. 

1 Report of Mr. Wilson, Blue-Book, Turkey, No. 8 (1881), page 
57, No. 48. 

2 The Mohammedan Missionary Problem, p. 31. Jessup. Phila- 
delphia, Presb. Pub. Soc. 



CHAPTER V. 
THE OUTCOME OF THE TREATY OF BERLIN. 

IT is quite needless to remark that Turkey, instead 
of doing anything to improve the condition of 
the Armenians, has done much to make it 
worse during the past fifteen years. The question 
now arises, what have the Powers signatory to the 
Berlin Treaty done to compel the Sublime Porte 
" to carry out the improvements and reforms" 
demanded in the Sixty-first Article ? And what 
steps has Great Britain taken in addition, to dis- 
charge the additional obligation for the improve- 
ment of Armenia which she assumed by the so-called 
Cyprus Convention ? 

We find that in November, 1879, the English 
Government, seeing that matters throughout Asia 
Minor were really going from bad to worse, went 
the length of ordering an English squadron to the 
Archipelago for the purpose of a naval demonstra- 
tion. The Turkish Government was greatly ex- 
cited, and with a view to getting the order counter- 
manded, made the fairest promises. 

But England was not the only Power aroused. On 
June 11, 1880, an Identical Note of the Great 
Powers demanded the execution of the clauses of 

76 



The Outcome of the Treaty of Berlin. J J 

the Treaty of Berlin which had remained in suspense. 
In the conclusion of the Identical Note a clear 
recognition is made of the fact that the interest of 
Europe, as well as that of the Ottoman Empire, requires 
the execution of the Sixty-first Article of the Treaty of 
Berlin, and that tJie joint and incessant action of the 
Powers can alone bring about this result. 

On July 5th, the Turkish Foreign Minister sent a 
Note in reply to the representatives of the Powers. 
" It is of great length and small real value, except as 
combining in a remarkable degree the distinguish- 
ing characteristics of modern Ottoman diplomacy, 
namely, first, great facility in assimilating the ad- 
ministrative and constitutional jargon of civilized 
countries ; second, consummate cunning in conceal- 
ing under deceptive appearances the barbarous reality 
of deeds and intentions ; third, cool audacity in 
making promises which there is neither the power 
nor desire to make good ; and, finally, a paternal and 
oily tone, intended to create the impression that the 
Turkish Government is the victim of unjust preju- 
dices and odious calumnies." 

As soon as the reply of the Porte was received, 
Earl Granville sent copies to the British Consuls in 
Asia Minor, inviting observations thereon. Eight 
detailed replies to this request are published in the 
Blue-Book. 1 They concur in a crushing condemna- 
tion of the Ottoman Government. 

These conclusions, moderately and very diffusely 
expressed in diplomatic phraseology, are reflected in 

1 Blue-Book, Turkey, No. 6, 1881, reports of Wilson, Bennett, 
Chermside, Trotter, Stewart, Clayton, Everett, and Bilotti, 



J& The Crisis in Turkey. 

the Collective Note which was sent on Sept. 1 1, 1880, 
to the Sublime Porte by the Ambassadors of the 
Great Powers. On October 3d, without making the 
slightest references to censures which had been 
addressed to it, and even appearing completely to 
ignore the Collective Note, the Porte, assuming a 
haughty tone, merely notified the Powers of what it 
intended to do. 

In a Circular of the 12th of January, 1881, Earl 
Granville tried again to induce the other five Powers 
to join in further representations to the Sublime 
Porte on the subject. But the other Powers seem 
to have thought that the diplomatic comedy had 
gone far enough, and sent evasive answers. Prince 
Bismarck expressed the opinion that there would be 
" serious inconvenience " in raising the Armenian 
question, and France hid behind Germany. Such 
action by the powers had been anticipated by the 
British Ambassador at Constantinople, Mr. Goschen, 
who had already written to Earl Granville: " If they 
[the Powers] refuse, or give only lukewarm support, 
the responsibility will not lie with Her Majesty's 
Government." The whole correspondence was sim- 
ply a matter of form. 1 I have condensed this outline 
of events since the Treaty of Berlin from Armenia, 
t l he \ Armenians, and the Treaties? following as far as 
possible the words of the writer, M. G. Rolin-Jae- 
quemy'ns', a high authority on International Law. 

From 1 88 1 to the present time, almost with- 
out exception, England, on her part, has allowed 

1 Bhte-Book, Turkey, 1881, p. 242. 

2 Published by John Heywood, London, 1891, pp. 82-89. 



The Outcome of the Treaty of Berlin. Jg 

no mention in her Blue-Books of the manner in 
which her protege's and those of Europe have been 
treated. Her energies have seemed to be devoted 
to stifling the ever-increasing cry of despair from 
Armenia, instead of attempting her rescue or relief. 
The other Powers are only less guilty, in proportion 
as they have done less to perpetuate Ottoman mis- 
rule, and have made less pretence of sympathy and 
help for the oppressed. Freeman says of England, 

" By waging a war on behalf of the Turk, by sign- 
ing a treaty which left the nations of South-eastern 
Europe [and Asia Minor] at the mercy of the Turk, by 
propping up the wicked power of the Turk in many 
ways, we have done a great wrong to the nations 
which are under his yoke ; and that wrong which we 
have ourselves done it is our duty to undo." 1 

It is thus clearly seen that both the Sixty-first 
Article of the Berlin Treaty, and the Cyprus Con- 
vention as well, have been of positively no value in 
securing for the Armenians any of the reforms which 
were therein recognized as imperatively called for 
and guaranteed. It is also clear that the condition 
of Armenia, and of Turkey as a whole, is even vastly 
worse and more hopeless than it was twenty years ago. 

This condition, I further maintain, is in large 
measure directly attributable to those treaties them- 
selves and to the attitude subsequently assumed by 
the Powers which signed them. It is said that the 
Armenians have brought trouble on themselves, by 
stirring up the Turks. I ask what stirred the Ar- 
menians up ? It was primarily the Sixty-first Article 

1 Freeman, The Turks in Europe. 



8o 



The Crisis in Turk 



ey. 



of the Treaty of Berlin. Many a time has that 
precious paragraph been quoted to me in the wilds 
of Kurdistan by common Armenian artisans and 




PROFESSOR M1NAS TCHERAZ. 

Present at the Berlin Congress. 



ignorant villagers 



They had welcomed it as a 
second evangel, and believed the word of England 
as they did the gospels. It was that Article which 



The Outcome of the Treaty of Berlin. 81 

roused them from the torpor of centuries. They saw 
Bulgaria rise from her blood and shame and enter 
on a career of honor and prosperity under the aegis 
of European protection. Is it surprising that hopes 
and aspirations have been born anew in the heart of 
the Armenian race — a people not inferior to the 
Bulgarians and in many respects more talented ? 

I have rarely found it difficult to persuade intelli- 
gent Armenians that an autonomous Armenia is 
impracticable. But I have never been able to con- 
vince one of them that the course of England and 
the other powers has been anything but one of sel- 
fishness, jealousy, and dishonor as far as fulfilment 
of their treaty obligations is concerned. 

During a residence of four years in Eastern Tur- 
key I noticed a marked and rapid alienation of Arme- 
nian sentiment from England in favor of Russia, who 
now seems to them the only source of succor. They 
see in England only a dog in the manger. 

There is another sequel to the Berlin Treaty and 
to the attitude of the powers, namely, its effect on 
the Turks themselves. The natural enmity and con- 
tempt of the Moslem rulers and population gener- 
ally for the Christian subjects has been greatly 
increased by reason of the pressure which foreign 
Powers have occasionally brought to bear on the 
Turks in order to procure relief for the Christian. 
To be sure the only hope of such relief is from with- 
out. But the pressure should not be of a petty, 
nagging and galling nature. This is worse than 
nothing. What is needed is prompt, decisive, and final 
action. 





82 The Crisis hi Turkey. 

And things have now arrived at such a pass that 
in such action lies the only hope of preventing a ter- 
rible catastrophe, which will eclipse even the massa- 
cres of Sassoun. The wheels of progress will not go 
backward except as they are broken. The Chris- 
tians of Armenia can be exterminated, but it is too 
late for them to accept slavery or Islam. They may 
be slaughtered like sheep, but they will not all die 
like dogs. The revolutionary movement, as it is 
called, is thus far nothing but a blind turning of the 
worm. It is ill considered, without resources, reck- 
less, and foreign to the real spirit, objects, and meth- 
ods of the Armenians on Turkish soil. It is not 
denied that there are a few Armenians in Europe 
who, in despair and for lack of better teaching, have 
imbibed Nihilistic views and are trying, in a very 
bungling way, to apply them. They are hated by the 
vast majority of Armenians in Turkey. They are 
related to the question at issue in the same way and 
degree as train wreckers and box-car burners were to 
the industrial problem during the riots of Chicago 
in July last, and deserve the same treatment. The 
Turks take great pains to thrust them into public 
notice, as a cloak for themselves, and with good suc- 
cess. The Turkish Government and its partisans, in 
order to conceal the real character of the massacre 
in Sassoun, has made persistent, extensive, and dis- 
honorable use of a letter by the first President of 
Robert College, Constantinople, Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, 
written December 23, 1894. Dr. Hamlin's vigorous 
and indignant protest may be found in Appendix C. 

The idea of Armenian revolution is a new thing 



The Outcome of the Treaty of Berlin, 



83 



in the history of that peaceable race, which has 
quietly submitted for centuries to the yoke of the 
Turk. But it is the natural outcome of the horrible 
situation in Armenia since the Treaty of Berlin, and 
the disease is bound 
to grow more viru- 
lent and contagious 
until the European 
doctors apply vigor- 
ous and radical treat- 
ment to the " Sick 
Man." It is difficult 
to see how anything 
but a surgical opera- 
tion can be helpful. 
The knife has fre- 
quently been used in 
the case of this incur- 
able patient during 
the present century, 
and always with ex- 
cellent results, as for 
instance in the case 
of Greece, Lebanon, 
Bulgaria, B o z n i a- 
Herzegovina, and 
Egypt. 

A situation in many 
respects parallel to that in Armenia existed until 
lately in Bosnia and Herzegovina. How quickly 
and completely that difficult problem has been 
solved, is narrated by M. de Blowitz in the October, 




ZEIBEK, TURKISH SOLDIER, 
" IRREGULAR." 



84 The Crisis in Turkey. 

1894, issue of The Nineteenth Century, from which 
I condense in his own words. 

" The orders, given after the taking over of the 
country, to surrender all arms or to destroy them, was 
given a sweeping application. Yet, before the victo- 
rious entry of the Austro-Hungarians, each Bosnian 
each Herzegovinian, was a walking arsenal. 

" To-day weapons and ambuscades are things of 
the romantic past. Twelve years have sufficed, un- 
der M. de Kallay's administration, not only to re- 
move all traces of the wild, inhospitable, inaccessible 
Bosnia of which I have been speaking, but indeed 
and especially to banish even the memory of those 
dark days of strenuous battle, and to wipe away 
from the hearts of both invader and invaded all 
traces of the hate which then animated them. In 
the year 1882, the superior administration of the two 
provinces (Bosnia and Herzegovina) passed into the 
hands of the Minister of Finance of the Austro- 
Hungarian Empire, who was then, and who is still, 
M. de Kallay. From this moment all is changed. 
The powers given to the new administration are 
almost unlimited. The civil element has been sub- 
stituted for the military element, and pacification has 
succeeded conquest. The greatest effort is made to 
reassure all minds. Not a single minaret has disap- 
peared, not a muezzin is deprived of his resources." 

A recent writer wisely says that " the Armenian 

question, if it ever be settled at all, must be taken 

out of the Turk's hands, whether he like it or not. 

. And we have an opportunity now, which 

may never come our way again, of settling a diffi- 



The Outcome of the Treaty of Berlin. 85 



culty which, if allowed to develop much longer, 
will prove more fruitful of mischief than any with 

which we have been confronted for a generation or 

»» 1 
more. 

C. B. Norman, special corre- 
spondent of The London Times, 
in his Armenia and the Cam- 
paign of 1 87 J 2 wrote words 
which are even truer to-day. 
I condense : 

" Naturally, since I have been 
here I have had many, very 
many, opportunities of convers- 
ing- with Turkish officers and 
men on the so-called Eastern 
Question ; and the consequence 
is that, arriving in the country 
a strong philo-Turk, deeply 
impressed with the necessity of 
preserving the ' integrity of the 
Empire ' in order to uphold 
' British interests,' I now fain 
would cry with Mr. Freeman : 
' Perish, British interests, perish 
our dominion in India, rather 
than that we should strike a blow 
on behalf of the wrong against the right ! ' 

" There is no finer race in the world than the Turk 




TURKISH SOLDIER, 
" REGULAR." 



1 " Diplomatist," " The Armenian Question " in The Nezv Review, 
January, 1895. 

2 Pp. 158-9. London : Cassell, Fetter, & Galpin. 

3 Speech in St. James's Hall, December, 1876. 



86 The Crisis in Turkey. 

proper. Brave, honest, industrious, truthful, frugal, 
kind-hearted, and hospitable, all who knoiv the 
Osmanli speak well of him. He is as much oppressed 
by the curse of misgovernment as his Christian fellow- 
subject ; and had the members of the Eastern Ques- 
tion Association as keen a sense of justice as they 
have love of writing, they would long ago have oblit- 
erated the word ' Christian ' from their lengthy docu- 
ments, and striven to ameliorate the condition of the 
lower orders of the subjects of the Porte, down- 
trodden as they are by an effete section of the 
Mohammedan race, who have degenerated in mind, 
body, and estate, since coming in contact with 
Western civilization. 

" I do not for one moment mean to deny that there 
are honest, energetic Turks, capable of exercising 
their talents for their country's good ; but these men 
are powerless. The vital powers of the nation are 
so sapped by centuries of misrule, the minds of the 
majority are so imbued with the belief that all ideas 
not born of Moslem brains and sanctified by Moslem 
usage are false, and to be scorned, that were any 
honest-minded gentleman to rise to power, and en- 
deavor to check "the present system of misgovern- 
ment, he would not remain in office one week. 
Captain Gambier's able article on the ' Life of 
Midhat Pasha ' * bears me out in this idea." 

1 The Nineteenth Century, January, 1878. 



CHAPTER VI. 
THE SULTAN AND THE SUBLIME PORTE. 

CHURCH and State are one and inseparable in 
Turkey. The Sultan of the empire is also 
Calif of the Mohammedan religious world. 
He cannot abdicate either office, if he would, without 
vacating the other by the same act. In fact, herein 
lies the secret of the present Sultan's policy, which 
seems suicidal on general principles of government. 
He has, on the one hand, been lavish in the building 
and repairing of mosques, and in establishing Moslem 
schools throughout his dominions. On the other 
hand, he has infringed and ignored the ancient rights 
and privileges of the Christian Patriarchates which 
were guaranteed by Mohammed IL, and have hitherto 
been regarded as sacred. He has blocked the erec- 
tion of new Christian schools and churches, and even 
the repairing of such as are falling into decay. 
There were formerly thousands of non-Moslems in 
civil positions, faithfully serving the government ; 
under the new regime, however, they have been 
systematically removed and excluded. And why 
has all this been done? Because the Sultan is a 
good conscientious Mohammedan, it is only fair to 
believe. Even if he were not a sincere believer, he 

87 



88 The Crisis in Turkey. 

would still feel compelled to adopt the same course, 
as a matter of internal political necessity. The 
Moslem population look to him as the Defender of 
the Faith, girded with the sword of the Prophet. 
He feels it imperative at all hazards to regain lost 
prestige over his fanatical subjects, especially in the 
south, where rumblings of discontent and disloyalty 
are ominous. 1 

Let us be reasonable and practical. Why longer 
exact or accept from the Sultan promises which he 
cannot make without doing violence to his own 
conscience and to his office, and which he cannot 
execute without imperilling his throne ? You might 
as well ask the Pope to abandon the doctrines of 
temporal sovereignty and of infallibility, which to 
him are fundamental. If the situation in Turkey de- 
mands that anything be done, and if the rest of 
humanity and civilization have any responsibility in 
the matter, let practical statesmen proceed to busi- 
ness. All hope of reform from within depends on 

1 From a descendant of Dahir Billah, the thirty-fifth caliph of 
Bagdad, Sultan Selim I. "procured the cession of his claims, and ob- 
tained the right to deem himself the shadow of God upon earth. 
Since then the Ottoman padishah has been held to inherit the rights 
of Omar and Haroun, and to be the legitimate commander of the 
faithful, and, as such, possessed of plenary temporal and spiritual 
authority over the followers of Mohammed." 2 The Persians and 
Moors, however, reject this claim, and at the close of the Russian War 
not a few of the Arab muftis declared that the caliphate had been for- 
feited by the inglorious defeat of the Turks, and should now return 
to the Arab family of Koreish. 

2 Freeman, The Saracens, p. 158. Quoted by Jessup, The Mo- 
hammedan Missionary Problem, p. 21. Philadelphia : Presbyterian 
Board of Publication, 1879. 



The Sultan and the Sublime Porte. 89 

the distrustful, distracted, hoodwinked Sultan, who 
is clearly, in the circumstances, a helpless and pitiable 
object. But he should no more be allowed to stand 
in the way of the emancipation of Turkey, than the 
Pope was allowed to impede the making of Italy. 
"The Prisoner of the Vatican " has Still abundant 
scope for his great and beneficent spiritual projects ; 
and the Captive at Yildiz Palace— for such he has for 
years constituted himself — may also be allowed a 
sphere in which his personal virtues and ability shall 
shine forth, unobscured by the clouds and darkness 
that surround him now. He certainly would be bet- 
ter off, and his subjects also— Moslem no less than 
Christian. 

The shrieks of ten thousand slaughtered Arme- 
nians pierce for the moment above the groans of 
others. But it should not be forgotten that all the 
races in Turkey are under the same curse, and that 
the present is a chance to help them as well as the 
Armenians. 

According to the Koran, which is the basis and 
ultimate authority of Mohammedan law — Code 
Napoleon, treaty stipulations, and Imperial. Irades 
notwithstanding,— the whole non-Moslem population 
of Turkey are outlaws. The millions of ancient, 
hereditary inhabitants, whether Greek, Armenian, 
Nestorian, Jacobite, Jew, or Syrian, are considered 
aliens. Their legal status is that of prisoners of war, 
with corresponding rights and responsibilities. 1 Not 
one of them is expected or even allowed to serve in 
the army. Non-Moslems, whose services are indis- 

1 Hughes, Notes on Mnhammadanism, pp. 209, 210. 



90 The Crisis in Turkey, 

pensable to the government, are, in rare cases, put in 
civil offices, especially financial, for which no Moham- 
medan of sufficient integrity or ability can be found. 

It cannot be denied that the above is true in 
theory, and it is equally true that the theory is car- 
ried out so far as fear of intervention by Christian 
nations permits. 

But in this hour, when our hearts are stirred by the 
lot of our co-religionists underthe Crescent, let us not 
forget that the Moslem population almost equally is 
cursed and impoverished by Turkish misrule, venal- 
ity, and taxation. They drink the cup of woe, all 
but the more bitter dregs of religious persecution, 
which is reserved for Christian lips. Their be- 
numbed condition, natural stolidity, and unquestion- 
ing obedience to Islam, a creed whose cardinal prin- 
ciple is submission, 1 accounts for the fact that they 
do not appear as a factor of the problem. Yet even 
Mohammedans often secretly come pleading that 
Europe take some interest in their case too. In the 
name of humanity, yes, of Christianity, let them not 
be forgotten. 

" An Eastern Resident," writing from Constantino- 
ple, in an article entitled "Sultan Abd-ul-Hamid," 
in The Contemporary Review, January, 1895, gives an 
able analysis of the Sultan's position and policy, 
showing at the same time great appreciation of His 
Majesty as a man. His position and relations to the 
Sublime Porte are not well understood by the pub- 
lic, and could hardly be better stated than in these 
extracts : 

1 Hughes, Notes on Muhammadanism , p. 10. 



The Sultan and the Sublime Porte, o i 

" So far as we can judge, the Sultan is a sincere 
and honest Mohammedan, and regards himself as a 




H. I. M. ABD-UL-HAMID KHAN, THE SULTAN OF TURKEY. 

true Caliph — a successor of the Prophet — the chief 
defender of the faith, under God the absolute arbi- 
ter of its destinies. He has undoubtedly done his 



92 The Crisis in Turkey. 

best to reconcile the interests of the Caliphate with 
those of the Empire. . . 

" In one particular it [the policy of the Sultan] is 
condemned by most enlightened Mohammedans as 
strongly as by Christians. His attempt to concen- 
trate the whole administration of the Empire in his 
own hands has led to the establishment of a dual 
government — that of the Palace and the Porte. The 
whole machinery of a government exists at the Porte. 
There are Ministers and fully organized departments. 
There is a Council of Ministers and a Council of 
State. All business is supposed to pass through 
their hands, and the whole administration is sup- 
posed to be subordinate to them. All is, of course, 
subject to the supreme will of the Sultan, but his 
official advisers and his official agents are at the 
Porte. 

" In fact, however, there is another government at 
the Palace of Yildiz, more powerful than the official 
government, made up of chamberlains, mollahs, 
eunuchs, astrologers, and nondescripts, and supported 
by the secret police, which spares no one from the 
Grand Vizier down. The general policy of the Empire 
is determined by this government, and the most im- 
portant questions of state are often treated and 
decided, while the highest officials of the Porte are 
left in absolute ignorance of what is going on. It is 
needless to add that the Porte and the Palace are at 
sword's-point, and block each other's movements as 
far as they can. 

" The Sultan evidently believes that he is equally 
independent of both these governments, and decides 



The Sultan and the Sublime Porte. 93 

all questions, great and small, for himself. In form 
he does so, but no man can act independently of all 
his sources of information, and of the personal influ- 
ence of his entourage. Under the present system he 
makes himself responsible for every blunder and 
every iniquity committed in the Empire, but he has 
disgraced three distinguished Grand Viziers for tell- 
ing him so, and seems to have no idea of the causes 
of the intense dissatisfaction with his government 
which prevails among his Mohammedan subjects. 
The Turks, as well as the Christians, also condemn 
the laws restricting personal freedom, which have 
increased in severity every year. In many ways 
these laws are more galling to the Turks than the 
Christians. . . . 

" There is another evil connected with this system 
which may lead to serious difficulties with foreign 
Powers. All foreign relations are supposed to be 
managed through the Minister of Foreign Affairs or 
the Grand Vizier, but these officials have no power 
and but little influence. They can promise nothing 
and do nothing. But in all delicate diplomatic ques- 
tions it is essential to treat with responsible agents, 
and to discuss them with such agents in a way in 
which it is impossible to treat with the Sovereign 
himself. The present system has been a serious injury 
to Turkey. It has roused the hostility of all the 
Embassies and led them to feel and report to their 
governments, that there is no use in trying to do any- 
thing to save this Empire ; that it is hopelessly cor- 
rupt, and the sooner it comes to an end the better 
for the world. There is no longer any concerted 



94 The Crisis in Turkey. 

action of Europe at Constantinople for the improve- 
ment of the condition of the people. 

" If Sultan Abd-ul-Hamid would come out of his 
palace, restore to the Porte its full responsibility, 
disband its secret police, trust his Mohammedan sub- 
jects, and do simple justice to the Christians, his life 
would be far more secure than it is to-day, with all 
precautions ; his people and all the world would 
recognize the great and noble qualities which they 
now ignore, and welcome him as the wisest and best 
of all the Sultans. 

" The sad pity of it is that he will never do it. It 
is too late. The influence of the Palace favorites is 
too strong. He will appear in history not as the 
Sultan who saved the Empire, but as the one who 
might have saved it and did not." 



CHAPTER VII. 
PREVIOUS ACTS OF THE TURKISH TRAGEDY. 

IN this chapter * I shall take no account of events 
that have taken place in legitimate warfare, 
where the slain were foreign enemies or rebel- 
lious subjects of the Sultan, resisting with arms in 
their hands after being ordered to submit. The " in- 
surgents " — as the Porte has called them — in all these 
cases have consisted of men, women, children, and 
infants, and in each case, by a curious coincidence, 
have been non-Mohammedan. 

In all of these massacres, Turkish military or civil 
officers presided and directed the bloody work, as will 
be seen by reference to the authorities mentioned. 
There have been many other massacres of less than 
ten thousand during the intervals, which, to use the 
language of Beder Khan in Mosul (see Layard's 
Nineveh), have confirmed the whole Turkish princi- 
ple, that " the Armenians were becoming too numer- 
ous, and needed diminishing." 

1 Parts of this chapter are taken from an article, " Notes on the 
Armenian Massacre," in The Independent, New York, January 31, 
1895, by a high authority, who is compelled to sign himself "A 
Student of Modern History." 

95 



96 The Crisis in Turkey. 

This item of Turkey's account, for the past 
seventy-five years only, stands about as follows : 

DEFENSELESS CHRISTIAN SUBJECTS MASSACRED IN 
TURKEY 1820 TO 1894. 

1822. Greeks, especially in Scio (Chios) . 50,00c 1 
1850. Nestorians and Armenians, Kur- 
distan . . . . . - . io,ooo 2 
i860. Maronites and Syrians, Lebanon and 

Damascus ..... n,ooo 3 

1876. Bulgarians, Bulgaria . . . io,ooo 4 

1894. Armenians, Armenia, Sassoun . i2,ooo 5 



Total . . . . . 93,000 

The above figures indicate the extent of the 
massacres mentioned. The following extracts reveal 
the occasion and manner in which they were carried 
out. 

The first extract is in regard to the Greeks, and is 
a translation, by Mr. Robert Stein, from the French: 

" The blow had been long premeditated. Sultan 
Mahmoud was in the habit of replying to every suc- 
cess of the Greek insurgents by ordering massacres, 

1 Latham, Russian and Twk, p. 417. London : W. H. Allen, 
1878. 

2 Layard's Nineveh. 

3 Colonel Churchill, Druses and Maronites, p. 219. London: 
Quaritch, 1862. 

4 Eugene Schuyler and Correspondent MacGahan, quoted in The 
Independent, January 10, 1895. 

? Chapter I, of this hook, 



Previous Acts of the Turkish Tragedy. 97 

violations, and enslavement in regions without de- 
fense, where there were none but women, children, 
and inoffensive merchants. After the first exploit of 
Kanaris, the quiet commercial town of Cydonia had 
promptly been burnt. The Turkish admiral was 
beaten at Samos ; for that reason thirty days were 
spent in Cyprus in cutting off heads. The town of 
Tripolitza, in the Morea, having been taken by the 
Palikares, the inhabitants of Cassandra, in Thrace, 
were given up to bands of Arnauts. The Sultan 
wished to take new reprisals to terrify the rayas 
[Christian subjects], and to cause the nations of 
Europe to reflect. He took care not to fix his choice 
on Crete, where his nizams would have been received 
with gunshots. Chios was an easy prey, and sus- 
pected nothing, having always lived on good terms 
with the Porte, and having even refused to take part 
in the insurrection of Hellas and the islands. The 
Chiotes had always been the gentlest, the most 
docile, the most timid of all the rayas. The secret 
societies which endeavored to rouse the Greek people 
had not even deigned to initiate these islanders in 
their projects of national resurrection. On the 8th of 
May, 1 82 1, the intrepid Tombasis, with fifteen brigs 
from Hydra and ten schooners from Psara, had ap- 
peared before the island, and his patriotic advances 
having been ill received, he had retired. The in- 
habitants of Chios, in order to give new guaranties 
of submission, had sent to the Turks large amounts 
of money, numerous hostages, and all their arms ; 
even the little knives with which they cut their bread 
had been taken from them. 



98 The Crisis in Tilt key. 

" At this moment, on Easter Day, 1822, the Capi- 
tan-Pasha anchored in the harbor, with seven ships 
and eight frigates. Inasmuch as many of the people, 
frightened by the sight of this fleet, had fled to the 
mountains, they were made to come down by promises 
of safety, and by sending to them some consuls, who 
were simple enough to lend themselves in good faith 
to this ignoble fraud. The Turkish admiral brought 
his executioners with him ; bashi-bazouks from 
Rumelia, Zeibeks and Yuruks from Asia Minor, the 
most ferocious and cowardly to be found in the 
empire. The adventurers had come in great num- 
bers, eager for their prey, attracted by this country, 
so rich in harvests, in gold coins, and in women. On 
the day fixed for this surprise all this rabble was 
crowded into boats, with pistols and knives, and the 
carnage began. Whole regiments courageously be- 
sieged villages containing three hundred souls. For 
many of them, this slaughter was a great joke, a 
gigantic bakshish. They slashed and burned all day ; 
in the evening they reckoned up the price of the 
slaves, the sheep, the goats, all huddled together 
pell-mell in the profaned churches. The children and 
the women escaped death ; their youth and beauty 
saved them from the massacre, to deliver them over 
at once to outrageous assaults or to reserve them for 
the shameful fate of the harem. They were led off 
in long troops ; they were put on the market and sold 
in the bazaars of Smyrna, Constantinople, and Brussa. 
Whatever resisted was killed without mercy. At 
Mesta, a young girl cried and struggled against an 
Arnaut ; the madman seized her loosened hair, 



Previous Acts of the Turkish Tragedy. 99 

turned back the collar, and with a cut of his sabre 
severed the pretty head. The person who described 
this scene to me saw it with his own eyes." 1 

In regard to the massacre of Nestorians in 1850, 
Layard states that after 9000 had been massacred, 
" 1000 men, women, and children concealed them- 
selves in a mountain fastness. Beder Khan Beg, an 
officer of rank in the employment of the Sultan, un- 
able to get at them, surrounded the place, and 
waited until they should be compelled to yield by 
thirst and hunger. Then he offered to spare their 
lives on the surrender of their arms and property, 
terms ratified by an oath on the Koran. The Kurds 
were then admitted to the platform. After they 
had disarmed their prisoners they commenced an in- 
discriminate slaughter, until, weary of using their 
weapons, they hurled the few survivors from the 
rocks into the river Zab below. Out of nearly 1000 
only one escaped." 2 

In regard to the massacre of Maronites and Syri- 
ans in i860, the anonymous authority in The Inde- 
pendent goes on to say : 

" After the massacre of June and July, i860, in 
Lebanon and Damascus, under the direction of 
Tahir Pasha in Deir el Komr, Osman Beg in Has- 
beiya, Kurshid Pasha in Lebanon, and Ahmed Pasha 
in Damascus, a conference was held in Paris, August 
3d, by the representatives of Great Britain, Austria, 
France, Prussia, Russia, and Turkey. As 1 1,000 

1 M. Gaston Deschamps : "En Turquie— LI'le de Chio," Revue 
des Detix Mondes, p. 167, January 1, 1893. 
2 Layard 's Nineveh , pp. 24-201. 
7 



ioo The Crisis in Turkey. 

Christians had been massacred, the European rep- 
resentatives called the attention of the Sultan to his 
promise in the Treaty of Paris, March 30, 1856, 
' that serious administrative measures should be 
taken to ameliorate the condition of the Christian 
population of every sect in the Ottoman Empire.' 
. . . And then, in the presence and with the con- 
sent of the five aforesaid Christian representatives, 
assembled together for the express purpose of taking 
measures to stop the effusion of Christian blood in 
Syria, caused by the wicked and wilful collusion of 
the Sultan's authorities, the following insult to the 
common sense, the feelings, and judgment of Chris- 
tian Europe was deliberately penned : ' The Pleni- 
potentiary of the Sublime Porte takes note of this 
declaration of the representatives of the high con- 
tracting Powers, and undertakes to transmit it to his 
court, pointing out that the Sublime Porte has em- 
ployed, and continues to employ, Jier efforts in the sense 
of the wish expressed above I ' (Churchill, pp. 220, 
221.) 

Colonel Churchill further says (p. 222): 
"Nejib Pasha, who was installed Governor of the 
Pashalick of Damascus on the restoration of Syria to 
the Sultan in 1840, declared to a confidential agent 
of the British Consul in that city, not knowing, how- 
ever, the character of the person he was addressing, 
' the Turkish Government can only maintain its 
supremacy in Syria by cutting down the Christian 
sects.' What Nejib Pasha enounced as a theory, 
Kurshid Pasha, after an interval of twenty years, 
succeeded in carrying into practice." 



Previous Acts of the Turkish Tragedy, 101 

The writer in The Independent adds : 

" Thus we have Nejib Pasha in 1840, Beder Khan 
in 1850, Kurshid Pasha in i860, Chefket Pasha in 
1876, and Zekki Pasha in 1894, concurring in this 
noble and philanthropic scheme for relieving the 
Turkish Empire of its surplus Christian population ! " 

The following facts relate to the terrible atrocities 
perpetrated in Bulgaria by Turkish bashi-bazouks in 
the spring of 1876. I quote verbatim from the pre- 
liminary report * of the Hon. Eugene Schuyler, Amer- 
ican Consul-General, to the Hon. Horace Maynard, 
the American Minister, at Constantinople : 

" Philippopolis, August 10, 1876. 

" SIR: — In reference to the atrocities and massacres 
committed by the Turks in Bulgaria, I have the 
honor to inform you that I have visited the towns 
of Adrianople, Philippopolis, and Tatar-Bazardjik, 
and villages in the surrounding districts. From 
what I have personally seen, and from the inquiries 
I have made, and the information I have received, I 
have ascertained the following facts : 

" The insurgent villages made little or no resist- 
ance. In many instances they surrendered their 
arms upon the first demand. Nearly all the villages 
which were attacked by the bashi-bazouks were 
burned and pillaged, as were also all those which 
had been abandoned by the terrified inhabitants. 
The inhabitants of some villages were massacred 
after exhibitions of the most ferocious cruelty, and 
the violation not only of women and girls, but even 
of persons of the other sex. These crimes were 

1 Article by Mr. Savage, The Independent, January 10, 1894. 



i62 The Crisis in Turkey, 

committed by the regular troops as well as by the 
basJii-bazonks [irregulars]. The number of villages 
which were burned in whole or in part in the districts 
of Philippopolis, Roptchus, and Tatar-Bazardjik is at 
least sixty-five. 

" Particular attention was given by the troops to 
the churches and schools, which in some cases were 
destroyed with petroleum and gunpowder. 

" It is difficult to estimate the number of Bul- 
garians who were killed during the few days that 
the disturbances lasted ; but I am inclined to put 
15,000 as the lowest for the districts I have named. 
This village surrendered, without firing a 
shot, after a promise of safety, to the bashi-bazotiks, 
under command of Ahmed Aga, a chief of the rural 
police. Despite his promise, the arms once sur- 
rendered, Ahmed Aga ordered the destruction of 
the village and the indiscriminate slaughter of the 
inhabitants, about a hundred young girls being re- 
served to satisfy the lust of the conqueror before 
they too should be killed. Not a house is now 
standing in this lovely valley. Of the 8000 inhabi- 
tants not 2000 are known to survive. 

"Ahmed Aga, who commanded the massacre, has 
since been decorated and promoted to the rank of 
yuz bashi [centurian]. 

"These atrocities were clearly unnecessary for the 
suppression of the insurrection, for it was an insig- 
nificant rebellion at the best, and the villagers gen- 
erally surrendered at the first summons. 
" I am, sir, yours very truly, 

" Eugene Schuyler. 

" The Hon. Horace Maynard, etc." 



Previous Acts of the Turkish Tragedy. 103 

" The British Government had glossed over and 
tried to cover up these horrible transactions, Premier 
Disraeli turning them off with a sneer. The facts, as 
unearthed by Consul Schuyler, shook the British 
nation like an earthquake, and came near unseating 
the Ministry. . . . 

" A similar investigation was made in the same dis- 
trict by Mr. J. A. MacGahan, the brilliant correspond- 
ent of the London Daily News, who confirms all 
that Mr. Schuyler discovered, in a special despatch 
to the Daily News, dated Philippopolis, July 28, 
1876." 

The circumstances and character of the Armenian 
massacre of 1894 are found in the first chapter of the 
present volume. In regard to this event the writer 
in The Independent of January 17th above quoted 
asks : 

"Will history repeat itself in 1895? Will the 
remaining Armenians of Sassoun be so terrorized as 
to refuse to testify before a Commission? Un- 
doubtedly. 

" If the facts already known do not force Europe to 
place Eastern Asia Minor under a Christian Viceroy 
there is little hope that any new facts will influence 
them. The dead tell no tales. The living fear to 
speak, lest they fall victims to the humane theories 
of Beder Khan and Nejib Pasha. 

" Will England now insist upon the protection of 
the Christian ? She is morally bound to. Four 
times has she saved the Ottoman Empire from de- 
struction, and the civilized world looks to her for a 
fulfilment of her high mission in the East. 



104 The Crisis in Turkey, 

" May British public opinion compel British public 
men to action ! " 

To make this chapter a little more complete for 
reference, I add a passing allusion to three other 
outrages not included in the above list, which takes 
account of no massacres of less than ten thousand 
victims at once. 

OUTRAGES IN CRETE IN 1866-7. 

On July 21, 1867, the British, Russian, French, and 
Italian Consuls at Canea, Crete, sent the following 
identical telegram to their several governments : 
" Massacres of women and children have broken out 
in the interior of the island. The authorities can 
neither put down the insurrection nor stay the 
course of these atrocities. Humanity would impera- 
tively demand the immediate suspension of hostili- 
ties, or the transportation to Greece of the women 
and children." 

The number of relieving ships sent to Crete in 
obedience to this accord was four French, three 
Russian, two Italian, three Austrian, and one Prus- 
sian. 1 

OUTRAGES IN ARMENIA IN 1877. 

The writer is C. B. Norman, special correspondent 
of The London Times, who says in his preface : 

" In my correspondence to the Times I made it 
a rule to , report nothing but what came under 
my own personal observation, or facts confirmed by 
European evidence. 

1 U. S. Consul Stillman's The Cretan Insurrection of 1866-7-8. 
Henry Holt & Co., 1874. 



Previous Acts of the Turkish Tragedy. 105 

" A complete list it is impossible for me to obtain, 
but from all sides — from Turk and Armenian alike — 



m:%ym 




A HIGHWAY IN ARMENIA. 



I hear piteous tales of the desolation that reigns 
throughout Kurdistan — villages deserted, towns 
abandoned, trade at a standstill, harvest ready for 
the sickle, but none to gather it in, husbands mourn- 
ing their dishonored wives, parents their murdered 
children ; and this is not the work of a power whose 
policy of selfish aggression no man can defend, but 
the ghastly acts of Turkey's irregular soldiery on 
Turkey's most peaceable inhabitants, — acts the per- 
petrators of which are well known, and yet are 
allowed to go unpunished. 

" A bare recital of the horrors committed by these 
demons is sufficient to call for their condign punish- 



106 The Crisis in Tttrkey. 

ment. The subject is too painful to need any color- 
ing, were my feeble pen enabled to give it." 

A few, out of many cases reported by Mr. Norman 
are given : 

" This gang also attacked the village of Kordjotz, 
violating the women, and sending off all the virgins 
to their hills; entering the church th?y burned the 
Bible and sacred pictures ; placing the communion- 
cup on the altar, they in turn defiled it, ind divided 
the church plate amongst themselves. 

" Sheik Obaidulah's men rivalled their comrades 
under the flag of Jelaludeen ; these latter operated 
between Van and Faik Pasha's camp. They at- 
tacked and robbed the villages of Shakbabgi and 
Adnagantz, carrying off all boys and virgins. At 
Kushartz they did the same, and killing 500 sheep, 
left them to rot in the streets, and then fired the 
place. Khosp, Jarashin, and Asdvadsadsan, Bog- 
hatz, and Aregh suffered in like manner ; the 
churches were despoiled and desecrated, graves dug 
up, young of both sexes carried off, what grain they 
could not transport was destroyed, and the inhabi- 
tants driven naked into the fields, to gaze with horror 
on their burning homesteads." 1 

THE MASSACRE OF THE YEZIDIS NEAR MOSUL, l8g2. 

" The Yezidis are a remnant of a heathen sect, who 
have never been converted to the Moslem faith. 
" Their holy place is not far from the city of Mo- 

1 C. B. Norman, Armenia and the Campaign of 1S77, pp. 293- 
298. London : Cassell, Petter, & Galpin, 1879. 



Previous Acts of the Ttirkisk Tragedy. 107 

sul, one day's journey, and their principal villages 
are also close by. In the summer of 1892 the Sultan 
sent a special officer, called Ferik Pasha, to Mosul to 
correct certain abuses in the government, to collect 
all back taxes, and to convert the Yezidis. His 
authority was absolute, the Vali Pasha of the city 
being subject to his orders. 

" In reference to his work among the Yezidis, he, it 
was generally reported, was to get a certain sum per 
capita for every convert made. 

" He first sent priests among them to convert them 
to the " true faith." They not succeeding, he very 
soon gave them the old alternative of the Koran or 
the sword. Still not submitting, he sent his soldiers, 
under command of his son, who put to the sword all 
who, not able to escape, refused to accept Moham- 
med. Their villages were burned, many were 
killed in cold blood, some were tortured, women 
and young girls were outraged or carried off to 
harems, and other atrocities, too horrible to relate, 
were perpetrated. 

" Those who escaped made their way to the moun- 
tains of Sinjar, where, together with their brethren 
of the mountains, they intrenched themselves and 
successfully defended themselves until the spring of 
1893 against the government troops which had been 
sent against them. 

" This massacre was reported to the French Gov- 
ernment by M. Siouffi, Consul at that time in Mosul, 
and to the English Government by Mr. Parry, who 
was in that region under the instructions of the 
Archbishop of Canterbury. 



108 The Crisis in Turkey. 

" The Yezidis who remained in their villages on 
the plain had Moslem priests set over them to in- 
struct them in the Moslem faith. They were com- 
pelled to attend prayers and nominally become 
Mohammedans ; but in secret they practised their 
own rites and declared that they were still Yezidis." 1 

After the massacre of the Yezidi peasants in 1892 
an English lady of rank, visiting Mosul, was refused 
permission by the Pasha to travel through the 
Yezidi district, lest she witness the dreadful results 
of the massacre. 2 

The writer in The Independent of January 31st, 
gives this explanation : 

" The reason of the recurrence of massacres in 
Turkey is the fanatical intolerance of the Moslem 
populace and their hatred to Christianity, unre- 
strained and often fomented by Turkish officials. 

" Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, the ablest and best 
friend Turkey ever had, who believed that ' England 
should befriend Turkey in order to reform her,' 
says : 3 

" ' Turkey is weak, fanatical, and misgoverned. 
The Eastern question is a fact, a reality of indefinite 
duration. Like a volcano it has intervals of rest ; 
but its outbreaks are frequent, their occasions un- 
certain, and their effects destructive ' (p. 6). 

" * Did not the massacres in Syria in i860 come 
upon us by surprise? . . . Have we any substantial 
security against the recurrence of similar horrors, of 
a similar necessity, and of a similar hazard?' (p. 79). 

1 The Independent, January 17, 1895. 

2 Ibid., January 31, 1895. 3 The Eastern Question. 



Previous Acts of the Turkish Tragedy. 109 

" ' The position of the Ottoman Empire is one of 
natural determination toward a state of exhaustive 
weakness ' (p. 97). 

" ' 111 fares the country where neither strong hand 
nor willing heart is to be found ' (p. 104). 

" A joint Commission is now en route to investigate 
the Sassoun massacres. Will any good come from it ? 
Doubtful. Lord Stratford says (p. 117): 

" ' We know not how soon or where the kites may 
be again collected by a massacre or insurrection. 
Such occasional meetings [of Commis- 
sions] have their portion of inconvenience and risk. 
Their failure is discreditable ; the effect of their suc- 
cess, at best, transient and partial. The evils they 
are meant to correct are themselves the offspring of 
one pervading evil, the source of which is in Con- 
stantinople.' 



CHAPTER VIII. 
ISLAM AS A FACTOR OF THE PROBLEM. 

IT is with reluctance that I approach this side of 
the question. It is not desirable that the sub- 
ject be complicated or embittered by religious 
animosities. But unfortunately these animosities do 
exist and have always formed a primary and essential 
feature in all the relations of the Turks with their 
Christian subjects. A writer who styles himself 
" Diplomatist," in a recent review article of consider- 
able merit, 1 with a stroke of the pen, disposes of this 
phase of the subject by characterizing it as " pure 
moonshine." But real diplomatists do not find it so 
easy to dispose of, nor do the great historians treat 
it as moonshine. The fanatical gleam that I have 
often caught in the eye of Turks and Kurds was 
never suggestive to me of the mild rays of the lunar 
orb, but seemed rather like a gleam from the political 
Crescent, whose baleful influence dominates the East. 
The question is not concerning the merits of 
Mohammed or of Mohammedanism in the abstract. 
I have a profound respect for the Prophet of Arabia, 
who might have been another Apostle Paul, but for 
the fact that the corrupt church of that day failed 

1 New Review for January, 1895. 
no 



Islam as a Factor of the Problem. 1 1 1 

to give that young and ardent seeker after God a true 
and worthy conception of Christianity. I would fain 
admit the high conception of the Mohammedan ideal, 
portrayed so skilfully by Mr. R. Bosworth Smith in 
his lectures before the Royal Institution of Great 
Britain. 

But such considerations are irrelevant to the present 
discussion, which is simply, What are the practical 
bearings of Islam upon the question of reform or of 
reconstruction in Turkey? 

As has been already shown in Chapter VI., the 
Ottoman Government is a politico-religious system. 
This is the necessary constitution of any Moham- 
medan sovereign state, but the conception has 
special force and vitality in Turkey, whose Sovereign 
claims to be the successor of Mohammed, and thus 
the Calif of the Mohammedan world. The whole 
fabric of the Turkish Empire rests on a religious 
foundation. This religious foundation is not the 
general religious principle in man, but the particular 
form of religion established by Mohammed. 

To what extent, now, does Islam enter into the 
political structure? We find on investigation that 
it is part and parcel of the bone and sinew of the 
organism in Turkey called the State,— called so by 
courtesy on account of its faint analogy to what is 
understood in other countries by that name. The 
Turkish army is exclusively a Mohammedan army, 
the national festivals are Mohammedan festivals, the 
official calendar is a Mohammedan calendar, both as 
to year and month, the laws are based on the Koran 
and Mohammedan tradition, the expounders of the 



112 The Crisis in Turkey. 

law are Mohammedan judges, and even testimony is 
a religious act of which only true believers are, in the 
nature of the case, capable. It is not denied that 
the testimony of Christians is allowed to be given 
in Turkish courts, but that does not signify that it is 
valid evidence in the eyes of the Court, especially 
when a Mohammedan is involved. Even the differ- 
ent formulae used show this. In the case of a 
Mohammedan it is, " His Lordship, So and So, testi- 
fied to the face of God "; in the case of a Christian 
it is, " Mr. Blank stated." 

In Article 63 of the Treaty of Berlin we read 
Turkey's solemn (it is hard to suppress a smile) 
promise to the European Powers in regard to the 
rights of Christians before the law: "All shall be 
allowed to give evidenee before the courts without dis- 
tinctions of creed" The practical application of the 
above clause is shown in the official reports of 
British Consuls. 1 

Mr. Wilson, Consul-General in Anatolia, writes : 
" In the greater portion of Anatolia, though Chris- 
tian evidence may be received, no weight is attached 
to it. When Moslem and Christian evidence are op- 
posed to each other, the latter is disregarded. For 
instance, three Christians are travelling along a road, 
and one of them is robbed by a man well known to 
all of them ; in the action which ensues, the robber 
has only to prove an alibi by two Moslem false wit- 
nesses to gain his case." 

1 These extracts are from Blue-Book, Turkey, No. 8 (1881), pp. 57- 
110, as quoted by the high authority, M. Rolin-Jaequemyns, in his 
Armenia, the Armenians, and the Treaties, pp. 74-76. London : 
John Heywood, 1 891. 



Islam as a Factor of the Problem. 1 1 3 

Mr. Chermside, Vice-Consul at Sivas, writes : 

"As regards the acceptance of Christian testimony, 
theoretically is it accepted in all Nizam courts. 
Hearing testimony, however, and attaching the rela- 
tive importance to it that, from its tenor and con- 
sistency, it is entitled to, are very different matters ; 
and there is no doubt that, especially in civil cases, 
tradition, sympathy, and education prejudice the 
Hakim 1 against it — sentimental considerations, how- 
ever, are not proof against the love of gain." 

According to the latter part of this quotation, the 
spirit which animates the courts of Asia Minor may 
be defined as fanaticism tempered by corruption. 
The following is the opinion of Mr. Everett, Vice- 
Consul at Erzerum : " The first consideration of the 
administrators of justice is the amount of money 
that can be extorted from an individual, and the sec- 
ond is his creed." The only doubt as to the morality 
of the Turkish magistrates appears to be whether 
they are more corrupt than fanatical, or more fanati- 
cal than corrupt. 

The injustice done to Christians even in commer- 
cial transactions is shown by Mr. Bilotti, Consul at 
Trebizond : 

" Christian evidence is accepted in the town of 
Trebizond, but I am assured in the districts, that 
though the same principle is admitted, no Mussul- 
man has ever been condemned on the testimony of 
Christians ; so much so, that the latter are in the 

1 The Hakim, who is a member of the religious body of Ulemas, 
presides over the lower court (Bidayet), which is to be found in every 
caza (hundred), and also over the Sandjak or district court. 



1 1 4 The Crisis in Turkey. 

habit of having their bonds witnessed only by- 
Mussulmans. " 

Much is said in regard to the truthfulness of the 
Turks. Consul-General Wilson writes : " From the 
peculiar value of Moslem evidence, most of the false 
witnesses are Turks." 

As a matter of fact, we thus see that the millions 
of Christians in Turkey neither are nor can be con- 
sidered and treated as citizens of the state, simply 
because they do not belong to the religion of the 
foreign invaders who rule them. No degree of 
loyalty can secure for non-Moslems admission to the 
army. Christians are rapidly being excluded from 
even the humblest positions in the civil lists also, 
except from such as Mohammedans are incompetent 
to fill. The status of the Christian before the law is 
that of an alien in regard to his own rights, and of a 
slave as far as the interests of Mohammedans are 
concerned. 

And yet we are told that the Ottoman Turks are 
tolerant of the members of other faiths. This is true 
in the same sense that the stomach is spoken of as 
being " tolerant " of certain easily digestible articles 
of food. Yes, so long as Christians submit to all 
forms of oppression, and make no claims in regard 
to rights which are generally supposed to belong to 
all men, they are gladly tolerated. 

That the discrimination against Christian subjects 
is due to their religious belief, is, further, clearly 
shown by the fact that Mohammedans, who abandon 
the creed of the government, immediately forfeit 
their special privileges, and even incur punishment 



Islam as a Factor of the Problem. 115 

as criminals. Apostacy from Islam is treason to the 
Sultan. Converts to Christianity are arrested and 
imprisoned. In the rare instances when foreign gov- 
ernments venture to inquire into such cases, the 
Ottoman authorities blandly insist that they care 
nothing for the man's religion, but that he must be 
arrested for "avoiding conscription," or on some 
other fictitious charge. He is, thereupon, hurried off 
to some distant military post, or finds a living grave 
in an unknown dungeon. 

Such is the politico-religious organization called 
the Ottoman Government. Can this union of Church 
and State be dissolved ? It can not be. The bond 
which unites them, according to Mohammedan doc- 
tors, is vital, as in the case of the Siamese twins. 

Inasmuch as the bond cannot be cut, the only re-' 
maining hope must be in improving the health of 
the two bodies thus indissolubly united. Unfortu- 
nately, no change can be hoped for in the case of 
either part of this dual patient. Mohammedanism at 
its birth zvas a malformation, to say the least, and 
will continue so even though restored to a state of 
perfect health. In the opinion of every orthodox 
Mohammedan, the Koran is a " perfect revelation of 
the will of God, sufficient and final," and " Islam 
is a separate distinct, and absolutely exclusive 
religion." 

As attempts are frequently made to convey a con- 
trary impression on this point, I quote the words of 
President George Washburn, of Robert College, 
Constantinople, an impartial student of Islam, who 
for thirty-five years has observed its practical work- 



1 1 6 The Crisis in Turkey. 

ings in the Ottoman Empire. At the World's Par- 
liament of Religions, in Chicago, 1893, he read a 
paper on " The Points of Contact and Contrast 
between Christianity and Mohammedanism." His 
whole treatment is remarkable for its judicial fair- 
ness, and his paper is commended to the reader 
who may desire a brief, comprehensive, and fair 
estimate of Islam. 

To the question whether Mohammedanism has 
been in any Avay modified, since the time of the 
Prophet, by its contact with Christianity, Dr. Wash- 
burn thinks that every orthodox Moslem would 
answer in the negative. He adds : " It is very im- 
portant to bear in mind that there are nominal 
Mohammedans who are theists, and others who are 
pantheists of the Spinoza type. There are also 
some small sects who are rationalists, but after the 
fashion of old English Deism rather than of the 
modern rationalism. The Deistic rationalism is 
represented in that most interesting work of Justice 
Ameer Ali^-T/ie Spirit of Islam. He speaks of Mo- 
hammed as Xenophon did of Socrates, and he 
reveres Christ also, but he denies that there was 
anything supernatural in the inspiration or lives of 
either, and claims that Hanife and the other Imams 
corrupted Islam, as he thinks Paul the apostle did 
Christianity ; but this book does not represent Mo- 
hammedanism, any more than Renan's Life of Jesus 
represents Christianity. These small rationalistic 
sects are looked upon by all orthodox Moslems as 
heretics of the Avorst description." 

Although the Scriptures of the Old and New 



Islam as a Factor of the Problem. 1 1 7 

Testaments happen to be mentioned one hundred 
and thirty-one times in the Koran, they are only 
quoted twice. The fundamental doctrines of Chris- 
tianity, such as the Incarnation, the Trinity, the 
Atonement, and the Resurrection of Christ are 
specifically repudiated in the Koran. 

The reform of Islam as a system is, therefore, not 
within the range of possibility. How about the 
reform of the Ottoman Government ? On this point 
I yield the floor to the great historian E. A. Free- 
man, who will close the debate 1 : 

" There are some people who say the Turks are 
no doubt very bad, but that the Christians are just 
as bad, and have done things just as cruel. Now, as 
a matter of fact, this is not true ; and, if it were true, 
it would be another reason for setting the Christians 
free ; for if they are as bad as the Turk, it is the 
Turk who has caused their badness. While other 
nations have been improving, the Turk has kept 
them from improving. Take away the Turk who 
hinders improvement, and they will improve like the 
others. The slave never has the virtues of a free- 
man ; it is only by setting him free that he can get 
them. 

" When we point out the evils of the rule of the 
Turk, some people tell us that Christian rulers in 
past times have done things quite as bad as the 
Turks. This is partly true, but not wholly. No 
Christian government has ever gone on for so long a 
time ruling as badly as the Turk has ruled. But it 
is true that Christian governments have in past times 

1 The Turks in Europe, 



1 1 8 The Crisis in Turkey. 

done particular acts, which were as bad as the acts 
of the Turks. But this argument, too, cuts the 
other way ; for Christian governments have left off 
doing such acts, while the Turks go on doing them 
still. The worst Christian government is better now 
than it was one hundred years ago, or five hundred 
years ago. The rule of the Turk is worse now than 
it was one hundred years ago, or five hundred years 
ago. That is to say, the worst Christian government 
can reform, while the Turk cannot. 

" It is sometimes said that we ought not to set 
free the Christians for fear that they should do some 
harm to the Mohammedans who would be left in 
their land. Now, if the question were really put, 
Shall a minority of oppressors go on oppressing the 
people of the land, or shall the majority of the people 
of the land turn round and oppress the minority 
who have hitherto oppressed them ? — this last would 
surely be the lesser evil of the two. But there is no 
ground for any such fear. No one wishes to hurt 
any Mohammedan who will live peaceably and not 
hurt Christians. No one wishes that any man, 
merely because he is, a Mohammedan, should be in 
any way worse off than a Christian, or be put under 
any disability as compared with a Christian. There is 
no reason why he should be. For the Mohammedan 
religion, though it does not command that Christians 
shall be persecuted, does command that Christians 
shall be treated as subjects of Mohammedans. But 
the Christian religion in no way commands that 
Mohammedan shall be treated as the subject of 
Christian. Christians and Mohammedans cannot 



Islam as a Factor of the Problem. i 1 9 

live together on equal terms under a Mohammedan 
government, because the Mohammedan religion 
forbids that they should ; but Mohammedans 
and Christians may perfectly well live together 
under a. Christian government. They do so under 
the governments both of England and of Russia. 
The few Mohammedans who are left in Greece 
and in Servia are in no way molested ; there 
are mosques both at Chalkis and at Belgrade. But 
it is foolish to argue, as some people do, that because 
men of different religions can live together under a 
Christian government, therefore they can live to- 
gether under a Mohammedan government ; for both 
reason and the nature of the Mohammedan religion 
prove that it is not so. . . . 

" The Turk came in as an alien and barbarian en- 
camped on the soil of Europe. At the end of five 
hundred years, he remains an alien and barbarian 
encamped on soil which he has no more made his 
own than it was when he first took Kallipolis. His 
rule during all that time has been the rule of 
strangers over enslaved nations in their own 
land. It has been the rule of cruelty, faith- 
lessness, and brutal lust; it has not been govern- 
ment, but organized brigandage. His rule cannot 
be reformed. While all other nations get better and 
better, the Turk gets worse and worse. And when 
the chief powers of Europe join in demanding that 
he should make even the smallest reform, he impu- 
dently refuses to make any. If there was anything 
to be said for him before the late Conference, there 
is nothing to be said for him now. For an evil 



120 



The Crisis in Turkey. 



which cannot be reformed, there is one remedy only 
— to get rid of it. Justice, reason, humanity, de- 
mand that the rule of the Turk in Europe should be 
got rid of ; and the time for getting rid of it has now 
come," 




ARMENIAN REBELS WHO WOULD NOT PAY TAXES. 



This was written seventeen years ago with refer- 
ence to the discontinuance of the Ottoman power in 
Europe. Does it not now apply with equal force to 
the discontinuance of the same regime in Armenia? 



CHAPTER IX. 

GLADSTONE ON THE ARMENIAN MASSACRE 
AND ON TURKISH MISRULE. 

ON the eighty-fifth anniversary of Mr. W. E. 
Gladstone's birth, December 29, 1894, a 
deputation of members of the National 
Church of Armenia presented to his son, the Rev. 
Stephen Gladstone, rector of Hawarden, a silver gilt 
chalice for the use of the church, in memory of the 
ex-Premier's sympathy with and assistance to the 
Armenian people. On that occasion Mr. Gladstone 
made a long and eloquent speech, in the course of 
which — after thanking the deputation for their 
token of sympathy and their grateful references to 
himself — he said : 

" Well, Mr. Stevenson — I address myself now per- 
haps more particularly to you and to my own coun- 
trymen, to any of them who will take notice of the 
deputation. I have said that in my opinion this 
manifestation from the Armenian community in 
England and in Paris was, on my part at least, quite 
undeserved. I have done nothing for you in circum- 
stances of great difficulty, and that, let me assure 
you, has not been owing to indifference. I will explain 
the cause in very few words. Rumors went abroad, 
growing more and more authenticated, which repre- 

121 



122 The Crisis in Turkey, 

sented a state of horrible and indescribable outrage 
in Armenia. The impulse of every man in circum- 
stances of that kind is to give way to a burst of 
strong feeling, but I had the conviction that in a 
grave case of this kind every nation is best and most 
properly represented by its government, which is the 
organ of the nation, and which has the right to speak 
with the authority of the nation. 

" And do not let me be told that one nation has no 
authority over another. Every nation, and if need be 
every human being, has authority on behalf of hu- 
manity and of justice. (Hear, hear.) These are prin- 
ciples common to mankind, and the violation of which 
may justly, at the proper time, open the mouths of the 
very humblest among us. But in such cases as these 
we must endeavor to do injustice to no one, and the 
more dreadful the allegations may be, the more 
strictly it is our duty not to be premature in assum- 
ing their truth, but to wait for an examination of the 
case, and to see that what we say, we say upon a 
basis of ascertained facts. 

" Well, gentlemen, it was, my fate — my fortune, 
I think — about eighteen years ago to take an ac- 
tive part with regard to other outrages which first 
came up in the shape of rumor, but were afterwards 
too horribly verified, in Bulgaria ; but I never 
stirred in regard to those outrages until in the 
first place, their existence and their character had 
been established by indisputable authority ; and, 
secondly, until I had found myself driven to abso- 
lute despair in regard to any hopes that I could en- 
tertain of a proper representation of British feeling 



Gladstone on the Armenian Massacre. 123 

on the part of the government which was then in 
office. You will see, therefore, that my conduct 
on this occasion has not been inconsistent with what 
I then did (hear, hear), and it does not imply, old as 
I am, that my feelings have been deadened in regard 
to matters of such a dreadful description. (Cheers.) 
"Now I remained silent because I had full confi- 
dence that the government of the Queen would do its 
duty, and I still entertain that confidence. Its power 
and influence are considerable ; at the same time they 
are limited. It is not in the power of this country, 
acting singly, to undertake to represent humanity at 
large, and to inflict, even upon the grossest wrong- 
doers, the punishments that their crimes may have 
deserved ; but there is such a thing as the conscience 
of mankind at large, and the conscience is not lim- 
ited even to Christendom. (Hear, hear.) And there 
is a great power in the collected voice of outraged 
humanity. What happened in Bulgaria ? The Sul- 
tan and his government absolutely denied that any- 
thing wrong had been done. Yes, but their denial 
was shattered by the force of facts. The truth was 
exhibited to the world. It was thought an extrava- 
gance at the time when I said : ' It is time that 
the Turk and all his belongings should go out of 
Bulgaria bag and baggage.' They did go out of 
Bulgaria, and they went out of a good deal besides. 
But, quite independent of any sentiment of right, 
justice, or humanity, common sense and common 
prudence ought to have taught them not to repeat 
the infernal acts which disgraced the year 1876, so 
far as Turkey was concerned. (Cheers.) 



124 The Crisis in Turkey, 

" Now, it is certainly true that we have not arrived 
at the close of this inquiry, and I will say nothing to 
assume that the allegations will be verified. At the 
same time I cannot pretend to say that there is no 
reason to anticipate an unfavorable issue. On the con- 
trary, the intelligence which has reached me tends to a 
conclusion which I still hope may not be verified, 
but tends strongly to a conclusion to the general 
effect that the outrages and the scenes and abomina- 
tions of 1876 in Bulgaria have been repeated in 1894 
in Armenia. As I have said, I hope it is not so, and 
I will hope to the last, but if it is so it is time that 
one general shout of execration, not of men, but of 
deeds, one general shout of execration directed 
against deeds of wickedness, should rise from out- 
raged humanity, and should force itself into the ears 
of the Sultan of Turkey and make him sensible, if 
anything can make him sensible, of the madness of 
such a course. 

" The history of Turkey has been a sad and 
painful history. That race has not been without 
remarkable and even in some cases fine quali- 
ties, but from too many points of view it has been 
a scourge to the world, made use of, no doubt, 
by a wise Providence for the sins of the world. If 
these tales of murder, violation, and outrage be true, 
then it will follow that they cannot be overlooked, 
and they cannot be made light of. I have lived to 
see the Empire of Turkey in Europe reduced to less 
than one half of what it was when I was born, and 
why ? Simply because of its misdeeds — a great record 
written by the hand of Almighty God, in whom the 



Gladstone on the Armenian Massacre, 125 

Turk, as a Mohammedan, believes, and believes firmly 
— written by the hand of Almighty God against in- 
justice, against lust, against the most abominable 
cruelty ; and if — and I hope, and I feel sure, that the 
government of the Queen will do everything that 
can be done to pierce to the bottom of this mystery, 
and to make the facts known to the world — if, happily 
— I speak hoping against hope — if the reports we have 
read are to be disproved or to be mitigated, then let 
us thank God ; but if, on the other hand, they be 
established, then I say it will more than ever stand 
before the world that there is no lesson, however 
severe, that can teach certain people the duty, the 
prudence, the necessity of observing in some de- 
gree the laws of decency, and of humanity, and of 
justice, and that if allegations such as these are 
established, it will stand as if it were written with 
letters of iron on the records of the world, that such 
a government as that which can countenance and 
cover the perpetration of such outrages is a disgrace 
in the first place to Mahomet, the Prophet whom it 
professes to follow, that it is a disgrace to civilization 
at large, and that it is a curse to mankind. (Cheers.) 
Now, that is strong language. 

" Strong language ought to be used when facts are 
strong, and ought not to be used without strength of 
facts. I have counselled you still to retain and to keep 
your judgment in suspense, but as the evidence grows 
and the case darkens, my hopes dwindle and decline ; 
and as long as I have a voice I hope that voice, upon 
occasions, will be uttered on behalf of humanity and 
truth." (Cheers.) 1 

1 The London Times, Weekly Edition Jan. 14, 1895. 



126 The Crisis in Turkey. 

In a remarkable paper entitled Bulgarian Horrors 
and the Question of the East called forth by the atroc- 
ities in 1876, Mr. Gladstone sums up some of the 
qualities of the Turkish race and of Turkish rule as 
follows : x 

" Let me endeavor very briefly to sketch, in the 
rudest outline, what the Turkish race was and what 
it is. It is not a question of Mohammedanism sim- 
ply, but of Mohammedanism compounded with the 
peculiar character of a race. They are not the mild 
Mohammedans of India, nor the chivalrous Saladins 
of Syria, nor the cultured Moors of Spain. They 
were, upon the whole, from the black day when they 
first entered Europe, the one great anti-human speci- 
men of humanity. Wherever they went, a broad 
line of blood marked the track behind them ; and, as 
far as their dominion reached, civilization disap- 
peared from view. They represented everywhere 
government by force as opposed to government by 
law. For the guide of this life they had a relentless 
fatalism ; for its reward hereafter, a sensual paradise. 

" They were, indeed, a tremendous incarnation of 
military power. This advancing curse menaced the 
whole of Europe. It was only stayed — and that not 
in one generation, but in many — by the heroism of 
the European population of those very countries 
part of which form at this moment the scene of war, 
and the anxious subject of diplomatic action. In 
the olden time all Western Christendom sympathized 
with the resistance to the common enemy ; and even 
during the hot and fierce struggles of the Reforma- 

1 Reprinted from The Christian Register, Boston, Dec. 1, 1894. 



128 The Crisis in Turkey. 

tion there were prayers, if I mistake not, offered up 
in the English churches for the success of the 
emperor — the head of the Roman Catholic power 
and influence — in his struggles with the Turk. 

" But, although the Turk represented force as op- 
posed to law, yet not even a government of force 
can be maintained without the aid of an intellectual 
element such as he did not possess. Hence there 
grew up what has been rare in the history of the 
world, a kind of tolerance in the midst of cruelty, 
tyranny, and rapine. Much of Christian life was 
contemptuously let alone, much of the subordinate 
functions of government was allowed to devolve 
upon the bishops ; and a race of Greeks was attracted 
to Constantinople which has all along made up, in 
some degree, the deficiencies of Turkish Islam in the 
element of mind, and which at this moment provides 
the Porte with its long-known and, I must add, 
highly esteemed ambassador in London. Then 
there have been, from time to time, but rarely, 
statesmen whom we have been too ready to mistake 
for specimens of what Turkey might become, where- 
as they were, in truth, more like lusus nature, on 
the favorable side, — monsters, so to speak, of virtue 
or intelligence. And there were (and are) also, 
scattered through the community, men who were 
not, indeed, real citizens, but yet who have exhibited 
the triTe civic virtues, and who would have been 
citizens, had there been a true polity around them. 
Besides all this, the conduct of the race has gradually 
been brought more under the eye of Europe, which 
it has lost its power to resist or to defy ; and its 



Gladstone on the Armenian Massacre. 129 

central government, in conforming perforce to many 
of the forms and traditions of civilization, has oc- 
casionally caught something of their spirit. . . . 

" I entreat my countrymen, upon whom far more 
than perhaps any other people of Europe it depends, 
to require and to insist that our government, which 
has-been working in one direction, shall work in the 
other, and shall apply all its vigor to concur with the 
other states of Europe in obtaining the extinction 
of the Turkish executive power in Bulgaria. Let 
the Turks now carry away their abuses in the only 
possible manner — namely, by carrying off themselves. 
Their Zaptiehs and their Mudirs, their Bimbashis 
and their Yuzbachis, their Kaimakams and their 
Pashas, — one and all, bag and baggage, — shall, I 
hope, clear out from the province they have desolated 
and profaned. This thorough riddance, this most 
blessed deliverance, is the only reparation we can 
make to the memory of those heaps on heaps of 
dead ; to the violated purity alike of matron, of 
maiden, and of child ; to the civilization which has 
been affronted and shamed ; to the laws of God, or, 
if you like, of Allah ; to the moral sense of mankind 
at large. There is not a criminal in a European jail, 
there is not a cannibal in the South Sea Islands, 
whose indignation would not arise and overboil at 
the recital of that which has been done ; which has 
too late been examined, but which remains una- 
venged ; which has left behind all the foul and all 
the fierce passions that produced it ; and which may 
again spring up, in another murderous harvest, from 
the soil soaked and reeking with blood, and in the 



130 The Crisis in Turkey. 

air tainted with every imaginable deed of crime and 
shame. That stick things should be done once is a 
damning disgrace to tlie portion of our race which 
did them, that a door should be left open for their 
ever-so-barely possible repetition would spread that 
shame over the whole. 1 Better, we may justly tell the 
Sultan, almost any inconvenience, difficulty, or loss 
associated with Bulgaria, 

' Than thou reseated in thy place of light, 
The mockery of thy people and their bane.' 

" We may ransack the annals of the world ; but I 
know not what research can furnish us with so por- 
tentous an example of the fiendish misuse of the 
powers established by God ' for the punishment of 
evil-doers, and for the encouragement of them that 
do well.' No government ever has so sinned ; none 
has so proved itself incorrigible in sin, or, which is 
the same, so impotent for reformation. If it be al- 
lowable that the executive power of Turkey should 
renew, at this great crisis, by permission or authority 
of Europe, the charter of its existence in Bulgaria, 
then there is not on record, since the beginnings of 
political society, a protest that man has lodged 
against intolerable misgovernment, or a stroke he has 
dealt at loathsome tyranny, that ought not hence- 
forth forward to be branded as a crime." 

1 And yet England by the Cyprus Convention pledged all her 
resources to keep the door open, and the repetition thus made possible 
has occurred. Author, 



CHAPTER X. 
WHO ARE THE ARMENIANS? 

THAT a field so rich in possibilities for the student 
of history, ethnology, or language as Armenia 
and Kurdistan should have remained as yet so 
little explored, is due, no doubt, to three causes 1 : 
first, the apparent loss of significance of the Armenian 
nation, which now, like Poland, seems but a stranded 
wreck in the stream of history ; second, to her geo- 
graphical isolation and the danger and hardship of 
travel in that region 2 ; third, to the linguistic 
obstacles to be overcome. 

So little clear and accurate information about the 
Armenians is readily accessible that the following 
brief outline is offered in the hope of meeting this 
want at the present time. 

HISTORY — The Armenian race belongs to the 

1 " Kurdistan abounds in antiquities of the most varied and interest- 
ing character. ... It may indeed be asserted that there is no 
region of the East at the present day which deserves a more careful 
scrutiny and promises a richer harvest to the antiquarian explorer 
than the lands inhabited by the Kurds from Erzeroum to Kirman- 
shahan." — Major-General H. C. Rawlinson, Encyc. Britannica, 
article on " Kurdistan." 

2 Mrs. Isabella Bird Bishop, Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan* 
2 vols, New York ; Putnam's, 1891. London; John Murray, 

131 



132 The Crisis in Turkey. 

Japhetic branch of the human family, falling under the 
same category as the inhabitants of India and Persia, 
who form the Aryans of Asia. The Armenian 
language proves this by its affinity with the Indo- 
Germanic tongues. Their physiognomy and physi- 
cal constitution connect them with the best types of 
Caucasian stock. Their manners and customs, as 
well as their religious beliefs, in heathenism, were 
similar to those of the Assyrians and Chaldeans, of 
the Medes and Persians, and, still later, of the Par- 
tisans. 

These people call themselves Haik, after Haig, the 
most celebrated of their ancient kings, and their 
land Haiasdan. Their national legends, fortified in 
their eyes by the Bible, make Haig descend from 
Ashkenaz or Togarmah, children of Gomer, a patri- 
arch of the line of Japhet. 1 Foreigners applied to 
them the name Armenians, derived from King Aram, 
said to be a descendant of Haig, who made great 
conquests. 2 

The earliest biblical mention of this land is the 
statement that the ark " rested upon the mountains 
of Ararat," a term which evidently refers to a dis- 
trict rather than a peak. 3 Another scriptural allusion 
is in connection with Sennacherib, whose parricidal 
sons are said to have escaped, 681 B. C, "into the 
land of Armenia." 4 Ezekiel also refers to Armenia 
under the name Togarmah, as furnishing Tyre with 

iGen. x., 2, 3. 

2 Moses of Khorene, History, Bk. i., chap, 12. 

3 Gen. viii., 4. 

4 fleb, Ararat, 2 Kings xix., 37 ; Jsa, xxxvii., 38, 



Who are the Armenians? 133 

horses and mules, a product for which it is still 
noted. 1 Tigranes I. is said to have been an ally of 
Cyrus the Great in overthrowing the Babylonians, 
and thus in liberating the Jews after their seventy 
years' captivity, 538 B. C. A foreshadowing of this 
event is probably found in the prophet Jeremiah : 
" Call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, 
Minni, and Ashkenaz, ... to make the land of 
Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant." 

In the famous inscriptions of the Achemenidae, at 
Persepolis and at Behistun, the name Armenia is 
found in various forms, and the Armenian tributaries 
march after the Cappadocians to render homage to 
the great king. 3 

Herodotus mentions the absorption of the Ar- 
menian Empire in that of Darius, 514 B. C, and a 
tribute of four hundred talents exacted. 4 

Xenophon's account of the retreat of the ten 
thousand through this mountainous region, in mid- 
winter, and constantly harassed by enemies, is valua- 
ble, not only as a tribute to the splendid discipline 
and spirit of the Greeks, but for the light which it 
throws upon the ancient Armenians and Kurds, 
whose houses, domestic habits, and employments are 
the same in many respects even at the present day. 5 

Armenia was included in the conquests of Alex- 
ander, and afterwards submitted to the Seleucidse of 

1 Ezek. xxvii., 14; also xxxviii., 6. 

2 Jer. li., 27-29 ; also 1., 9, 41, 42. 

3 Christian Lassen, Die alipersischen Keil-Inschriften von Per- 
sepolis, Bonn, 1836, pp. 86, 87. 

4 History, Bk. iii., chap. 93. 5 Anabasis, Bk. iv. 



134 The Crisis in Turkey. 

Syria. In 190 B. C, when Antiochus the Great was 
defeated by Scipio, Armenia revolted under Artaxias, 
who gave refuge to the exiled Hannibal. About 
150 B. c, the great Parthian king, Mithridates I., 
established his brother Valarsaces in Armenia. The 
most celebrated king of this branch of the Arsacid 
family was Tigranes II., who, while aiding Mithri- 
dates of Pontus, was defeated by Pompey. After 
this, Tacitus says that the Armenians were almost 
always at war ; with the Romans through hatred, 
and with the Parthians through jealousy. 1 Princes 
of this line' continued to rule, however, until the 
Arsacidae were driven from the Persian throne by 
the Sassanid Ardashir. Though frequently con- 
quered by the kings of that dynasty, Armenia was 
enabled as often to re-assert her freedom by the help 
of Roman arms. 

When Tiridates embraced Christianity, 276 A. D., 
the struggle became embittered by the introduction 
of a religious element, for the Persians were bigoted 
Zoroastrians. This condition reached a climax when 
the country was divided between the Romans and 
Persians, under Theodosius the Great, 390 A. D. 

After the fall of the Sassanidae, in the seventh cen- 
tury, Armenia was divided between the Greek Em- 
pire and the Saracens ; but from 859 to 1045 ft was 
again ruled by a native dynasty of vigorous princes, 
the Pagratidae. This was brought to a close by the 
suspicious and short-sighted policy of the Byzantine 
emperors, one of whom, Constantine IX., at last 
overthrew the Armenian kingdom, thereby laying 

1 Annates, Bk. ii., ch. 56. 



"WE 




AN ARMENIAN TOMBSTONE OF A.D. 934. 

Evidence of a high state of art. 
135 



136 The Crisis in Turkey. 

open the whole eastern frontier to the invasion of 
the Seljouk Turks, who shortly before had begun 
their attacks, and who might have been successfully 
resisted by these hardy mountaineers. The result 
was fatal, both to Armenia, which was overrun, and 
to the Greek Empire ; for by the battle of Manzikert, 
107 1 A. D., when Romanus IV. was defeated and 
made prisoner by Alp Arslan, the whole of Asia 
Minor was left at the mercy of the Seljouks. 1 

Rupen, a relative of the last Pagratid sovereign, 
escaped into Cilicia, and established the Rupenian 
dynasty, which was not extinguished until the 
death of Leon VI., 1393, an exile in Paris, and the 
last of the Armenian kings. The Rupenians had 
entered into alliance with the Crusaders. They wel- 
comed the Mongolian hordes under Genghis Khan, 
early in the thirteenth century, and suffered the 
vengeance of the Mamelukes, 1375. 

A graphic account of the cruelties of Timour the 
Tartar, who devastated Armenia at the close of the 
fourteenth century, has been left us by Thomas of 
Medzop. The last great calamity which fell upon 
the mother country happened in 1605, when Shah 
Abbas forcibly transplanted twelve thousand families 
to Ispahan in Persia. 

The Armenian Church. — It is the oldest of all 
national churches. Their legends claim that our Lord 
corresponded with King Abgarus of Edessa or Ur, 
and that the apostles Thaddaeus and Bartholomew 
preached the Gospel to them. But the historical 
founder of the Armenian church was St. Gregory 

1 Tozer, The Church and the Eastern Empire, pp. 22, 86. 



Who are the Armenians ? 137 

" The Illuminator," 1 an Arsarcid prince, related to 
KingTiridates (Dertad), who was consecrated Bishop 
of Armenia, at Csesarea, in 302 A. D. The Armenian 
church is Episcopal in polity, and closely resembles 
the Greek in outward forms. 

Misled by imperfect reports of the Council of 
Chalcedon, 451, which they were not able to attend 
on account of Persian persecutions, the Armenian 
bishops annulled its decrees in 536, thus gaining the 
credit of being Eutychians, which led to their gradual 
separation from the orthodox church, much to the 
satisfaction of the Persian ruler Chosroes. This es- 
trangement was doubtless political as much as doc- 
trinal, on account of the attempts at ecclesiastical 
supremacy by the churches of Constantinople and 
Rome. As far as her ecclesiastical writers are con- 
cerned, and her beautiful liturgy, the Armenian 
church is in general orthodox. Her heresy, in com- 
mon with that of the rest of Christendom, is one of 
life rather than of doctrine. A chism in the Armenian 
church was brought about in the sixteenth century 
by Jesuit missionaries, who succeeded in detaching 
the community of Catholic Armenians from the 
mother church, of which the Catholicos at Etchmiad- 
zin is recognized as the supreme head. 

All Armenians — except perhaps the Catholic, 
whose allegiance has been transferred of course to 
Rome — still cherish a passionate attachment for the 
venerable church of their ancestors, to which they 
owe their identity as a people after the terrible vicis- 

1 Krikor " Loosavoritch," from which title the Armenian Gregorian 
church calls itself Loosavortcha<ran. 



138 The Crisis in Turkey. 

situdes of so many centuries. It is true that Ar- 
menians who have come under European influence, 
especially French, have to some extent become scep- 
tical and indifferent to religion. But even such men 
still profess at least an outward loyalty, as a matter 
of sentiment, and because they believe the formal 
preservation of the Armenian church to be the con- 
dition of national union in the future as it has been 
in the past. It is, indeed, almost a political necessity, 
as the Ottoman Empire is now constituted. 

It is to be hoped that the time will come when the 
children of the Armenian church of every shade will 
no longer look upon her as a mother frail and failing, 
yet to be treated with respect while she lasts ; nor as 
a mother ignorant and bigoted beyond hope of re- 
form ; still less, as one heretical and to be abandoned 
for Rome. Rather, let all her sons rally around her 
and help her to fulfil her true spiritual mission. She 
will then renew her youth and again take her honored 
place in the front ranks of ** the Church of the living 
God, which is the pillar and ground of the truth." 

Would that the spirit of the grand and broad- 
minded man who is now the Catholicos at Etchmiad- 
zin, His Holiness, Mugerditch Khrimian, might 
pervade the whole body of which he is the honored 
and beloved head. Less than a year ago, the author 
had the privilege of a long private interview w T ith this 
venerable ecclesiastic, whose hand he kissed in ori- 
ental fashion, with respect for the man and for himself. 
His last words to me, found upon the title-page, 
were " Husahadelu chenk" meaning, "We must not 
despair" — a good motto for us all. 



Who are the Armenians f 



139 



That the grand old church of "The Illuminator" 
should somewhat lose its hold on the mind and con- 
science of the rising generation at this stage of super- 




THE CATHOLICOS OF ETCHMIADZIN, IN THE CAUCASUS. 

Religious head of the Armenian Church. 

ficial enlightenment is not strange. Her real merits 
are concealed, unfortunately, under a growth of super- 
stition and ignorance which even the clergy admit, 



140 The Crisis in Turkey, 

but lack the courage and ability to remove. These 
abuses, however, are not due to any demoralization 
of the Armenian race itself, but to its isolation, and 
to the repeated and terrible devastations that have 
checked its growth and reduced it to a condition of 
extreme poverty and helplessness. 

No greater service could be rendered to the Ar- 
menian people than aid and encouragement in estab- 
lishing institutions for the education of the clergy, 
who under present circumstances are their natural 
leaders. The twentieth century will bring, we hope, 
better political privileges. But unless, in the mean- 
time, the ancient church has maintained her hold 
on the conscience of the rising generation, she is in 
danger of sinking into the position of the church in 
France. 

By nature the Armenians are deeply religious, as 
their whole literature and history show. It has been 
a religion of the heart, not of the headl Its evidence 
is not to be found in metaphysical discussions and 
hair-splitting theology as in the case of the Greeks, 
but in a brave and simple record written with the 
tears of saints and illuminated with the blood of 
martyrs. 

The seeds of a thorough and far-reaching reforma- 
tion have been carefully sown and are already bear- 
ing fruit. The prospect of reform is brightened by 
three facts : first, the Armenian church is essentially 
democratic, and is not in bondage to any " infallible " 
human authority ; second, her errors of doctrine and 
practice are not fundamental, and, having never been 
sanctioned by councils, but simply by custom and 



Who are the Armenians ? 



141 



tradition, can in due time be discarded ; third, she 
has always acknowledged the supreme authority of 




THE SUBORDINATE CATHOLICOS OF AGHTAMAR, A TOOL OF 
THE TURKS. 

Wearing the Sultan's highest decorations for services rendered. 

the Bible, which is no longer a sealed book, having 
been translated into the modern tongue by American 
missionaries, very widely scattered, and at last gladly 



142 The Crisis in Turkey. 

received by all classes. The demand for progress and 
reform is by no means confined to the so-called 
" evangelical " element, but is making itself heard 
even in the pulpits of the old church and in the 
secular press. 

The Armenians, very numerous in ancient times, 
now number only about 4,000,000, of whom 2,500,000 
are under the Sultan, 1,200,000 in Russia, 150,000 in 
Persia, and the rest widely scattered in many lands, 
but everywhere distinguished for their peaceable and 
enterprising character. They are the leading bankers, 
merchants, and skilled artisans of Turkey, and exten- 
sively engage in the various trades, manufactures, 
and agriculture as well. They love their native home 
and are yet destined to play an important part in the 
moral and material regeneration of western Asia. 

The following estimate is from an experienced and 
discriminating authority, who is also a member of 
the Church of England : 

" I have confessed already to a prejudice against 
the Armenians, but it is not possible to deny that 
they are the most capable, energetic, enterprising, 
and pushing race in Western Asia, physically su- 
perior, and intellectually acute, and above all they 
are a race which can be raised in all respects to our 
own level, neither religion, color, customs, nor inferi- 
ority in intellect or force constituting any barrier be- 
tween its. Their shrewdness and aptitude for business 
are remarkable, and whatever exists of commercial 
enterprise in Eastern Asia Minor is almost altogether 
in their hands. They have singular elasticity, as 
their survival as a church and nation shows, and I 



Who are the Armenians ? 



x 43 



cannot but think it likely that they may have some 
share in determining the course of events in the 
East, both politically and religiously. As Orientals 
they understand Oriental character and modes of 
thought as we never can, and if a new Pentecostal 
afflatus were to fall upon the educated and intelli- 
gent young men who are being trained in the colleges 
which the American churches have scattered liberally 
through Asia Minor, the effect upon Turkey would 
be marvellous. I think most decidedly that re- 
form in Turkey must come through Christianity, 
and in this view the reform and enlightenment of the 
religion which has such a task before it are of mo- 
mentous importance. " x 

Language and Literature. — The Armenian 
grammar is analogous to that of other languages of 
the same origin. It has not the distinction of gen- 
der, but is rich in its declensions and conjugations. 
The accent of Armenian words is on the last sylla- 
ble, and many of the strong consonantal sounds 
strike the ear of a foreigner with harshness, and defy 
his tongue. The rich native vocabulary has been 
increased by additions from languages with which it 
has come in contact. It possesses also, as the Ger- 
man, great facility in building compound words. 

The earliest specimen of this language, though in 
the cuneiform character, is probably to be found in 
the tri-lingual inscriptions on the great citadel rock 
of Van, which have not yet been satisfactorily made 
out. The pre-Christian literature of Armenia, con- 
sisting of national songs, has entirely perished, ex- 

1 Mrs, Bishop, Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan^ vol. ii., p. 336, 



144 The Crisis in Turkey. 

cept a few quotations. All that has come down to 
us is subsequent to the fourth century, and refers 
exclusively to history or religion. Poetry and fiction 
never greatly flourished among this serious race, al- 
ways in the midst of danger or suffering. 

The ancient Armenian version of the Bible, made 
by Mesrob, the inventor of their alphabet, and his 
disciples, early in the fifth century, has been called 
the queen of versions for its beauty, and, though not 
based on the Hebrew, is of some critical value in 
determining the readings of the Septuagint, of which 
it does not follow any known recension. Hundreds 
of other translations from Syriac and Greek writers 
soon followed, some of which are extant only in 
Armenian. 

The fifth century, their Golden Age, was adorned 
by such classic writers as Yeznig of Goghp, who 
wrote most eloquently, in four books, against the 
Persian fire-worshippers, the Greek philosophers, 
the Marcion heresy, and the Manichseans ; Goriun, 
the biographer of Mesrob ; David, the philosopher 
and translator of Aristotle ; Yeghishe, who relates 
the heroic struggle of Vartan for the Christian faith 
against the Persian Zoroastrians ; Lazarus of Parb ; 
and Moses of Khorene, their national historian. 
There follows a period of four centuries of literary 
barrenness, due to political disorder and schism. 

Under the Rupenian dynasty there was a second 
period of literary brilliancy. Then flourished Nerses 
Schnorhali " The Gracious," an orator grafted upon 
the poet ; as well as Nerses of Lampron, whose hymns 
also enrich the beautiful Armenian liturgy. The 



Who are the Armenians ? 



145 



annals of Matthew of Edessa give interesting facts 
about the first Crusade. Samuel of Ani, John 




THE ISLAND MONASTERY OF AGHTAMAR, IN LAKE VAN. 

One of many similar Armenian Monasteries still existing, rich in 
parchment manuscripts exposed to decay and vandalism. 

Vanagan, Vartan the Great, and Thomas of Med- 
zop wrote succeeding chronicles. 

A third revival of Armenian letters was begun by 



146 The Crisis in Turkey, 

Mechitar of Sebaste (Sivas),who established an order 
of Catholic monks at the monastery of St. Lazarus 
in Venice, 171 7. These fathers have won the inter- 
est and admiration of European scholars by their 
publication of Armenian classics, together with many 
learned original contributions. Other centres of 
literary activity are to be found in Vienna, Paris, 
and the Institute of Moscow, as well as the schools 
of Constantinople and Tiflis. 

A list of authorities on Armenian subjects is given 
in Appendix E. 



CHAPTER XL 

AMERICANS IN TURKEY, THEIR WORK AND 
INFLUENCE. 

THE American missionaries in the Turkish Em- 
pire are brought into the discussion of almost 
every question that arises in that land. 
Especially is this true at present, in connection with 
the Armenian problem. So many wild and contra- 
dictory statements are made in regard to them, and 
the Protestant communities which are the direct re- 
sults of their labors, that the mind of the public is 
more or less confused on the subject. The mission- 
aries, and the many thousands who have gladly fol- 
lowed their leadership in intellectual, moral, and 
religious reform, are an important, though not a 
noisy or conspicuous element. For this reason, as 
well as on account of popular ignorance and hostile 
misrepresentation, they cannot be overlooked in any 
fair and adequate survey of the situation. The 
writer has long been familiar with this phase of the 
subject, and has a large mass of evidence and statis- 
tics at his command. But he is not connected with 
any of the various missionary societies involved, and is 
alone responsible for the statements made in this or 
any other part of tlie volume. 

147 



148 The Crisis in Turkey. 

It is very important to note that charges against 
the missionaries, of disloyalty to the Sultan, have 
never been sustained for a moment, and that investi- 
gation has shown them to be obedient to the laws, 
and opposed to revolutionary sentiments upon the 
part of any of the subjects of the Empire. The 
highest officials have repeatedly borne public testi- 
mony to the valuable services of the Americans in 
educational, literary, medical and philanthropic 
lines. Even H. I. M. Sultan Abd-ul-Hamid has 
graciously given expression to his confidence in 
Americans as being free from any political designs, 
such as all Europeans are supposed to entertain. 

Many are not aware of the great work already ac- 
complished by American missionaries during the 
past seventy years in the Ottoman Empire, nor of 
the vast influence they have exerted, both directly 
and indirectly. They have been in many depart- 
ments the pioneers of civilization. They have stuck 
to their posts, obscure or prominent, in peace or in 
war, in famine, plague and persecution. Pashas and 
diplomats and generals have sought their aid without 
fear of being misled or betrayed. But the messen- 
gers of the Cross have never been swerved from what 
they consider a "higher calling" — to instruct the 
ignorant, young and old, to counsel and reclaim the 
erring, to attend the sick and imprisoned, and to 
comfort the broken-hearted. To support these gen- 
eral statements, the reader must pardon a few statis- 
tics compiled from the latest official tables, showing 
the direct results of American missionary effort in 
Turkey. 



Americans in Turkey. 14c 

STATISTICS OF AMERICAN MISSIONS IN TURKEY. 5 

The following figures, with the exception of the 
Press statistics, represent the work of the American 
Board (Congregational) and of the Presbyterian 
Board taken together. 

The Congregational proportion constitutes about 
three fourths and the Presbyterian one fourth in all 
these figures, the work of the latter society being 
confined to Syria and Mosul. 

THE FORCE. 

Laborers. 

Foreign missionaries 22 , 

Native pastors, preachers, teachers, etc. . . 1,004 

Total force of laborers I 317 

American missionaries to Turkey since 1821 . . . 550 

1 By far the largest part of foreign missionary work in Turkey 
has always been in the hands of Americans, although, of course, 
they neither claim nor have any monopoly in this respect. As a mat- 
ter of fact there are many other large and successful missionary, be- 
nevolent, and educational enterprises conducted in that land by other 
foreign societies as well as individuals. The various Roman Catholic 
orders are strongly established in many parts, and are generally of 
French connections and introduce that language in their work as the 
Americans do English. The following is a partial list of other socie- 
ties at work in Turkey : The British and Foreign Bible Society, the 
Church Missionary Society, the Bible Lands Missions Aid Society, 
the British Syrian Mission Schools and Bible Work, the Church of 
Scotland Mission to the Jews, the Society of Friends (both English 
and American), the Irish Presbyterian Mission, the Reformed Pres- 
byterian Mission, and the German Deaconesses. In addition to all 
these agencies, there are many private and local schools and institu- 
tions that are doing excellent work, but of which only this general 
mention can here be made. 

The statistics of Robert College, Constantinople, are not included 
in these tables, as that institution, though a child of American Mis- 
sions, is independent of them. 



ISO 



The Crisis in Turkey. 



Plant. 

Value of property held by Americans, exclusive of 
churches, schools, etc., erected in the names of 
native subjects, with foreign aid, for which sta- 
tistics are not available ..... 

A nnual Expenditure. 

Appropriations from America .... 
From native sources ....... 



52,500,000 



5225,000 
60,000 



Total expenditure annually . . $285,000 

Total American expenditure from the first, at least $10,000,000 



THE RESULTS. 

Religious ■. 

Churches organized ..... 
Other stated preaching places . 

Total number of preaching places . 

Communicants (received on confession of faith) 
Members of Protestant civil communities (adherents) 
Average Sunday congregations . 
Sunday-school membership 

Educational. 

Colleges well equipped, for 

both, sexes .... 5 
Theological seminaries . . 6 

High-schools for boys 
Boarding-schools for girls 
Common schools for both sexes 



80 
530 



1 
I 

Y students 



155 
281 

436 

13,528 
60,000 
40,000 
35,ooo 



4,085 



23,315 



27,400 



Total schools of all grades . 621 Students 

There are six American institutions in Turkey- 
incorporated under the laws of the United States, 
and controlled by trustees in that land. 

Medical. 

There is a well equipped American Medical Col- 
lege and Hospital at Beirut, and American mission- 



Americans in Turkey, 151 

ary physicians treat, yearly, many thousands of 
patients of all classes and races throughout the 
land, both in their dispensaries and in private prac- 
tice, at a nominal sum and very often gratuitously. 

Publishing. 

Both weekly and monthly newspapers are pub- 
lished by the American missionaries at Constantino- 
ple, in the Armenian, Turkish, Greek, and Bulgarian 
languages, and an Arabic weekly is published at 
Beirut. 

The catalogue of editions of the Scriptures and of 
religious, educational, and miscellaneous books and 
tracts in various languages, which may be obtained 
at the American Bible House, Constantinople, con- 
tains separate titles to the number of about 1000. 
The publications in the catalogue of the Presbyte- 
rian Press at Beirut, mostly in Arabic, number 507. 
The number of copies of the Scriptures (entire or in 
part) put in circulation by the Levant Agency of the 
American Bible Society alone, 1847 to ^93, is 1,378,- 
715. The number of copies of the Scriptures (entire 
or in part) in languages and type available for Mo- 
hammedans, put in circulation by the same Agency 
in 1893, was Osmanli-Turkish (Arabic type), 5,392 ; 
Arabic language (Arabic type), 34,077 ; total, 39,469. 

The number of copies of Scriptures (entire or in 
part) circulated in Turkey since 1820 amounts to 
about 3,000,000. The number of copies of other 
books and tracts for the same period is about 4,000,- 
000. The total number of copies of the Scriptures 
and of miscellaneous literature circulated is therefore 
about 7,000,000. 



152 



The Crisis in Turkey. 



Even these large figures by no means measure the 
extent and significance of Protestant influence in 
Turkey. The idea and spirit of Protestantism has a 
breadth which cannot be measured or portrayed by 
figures. As a matter of convenience and political 




ARMENIAN FAMILY, BITLIS. 



necessity, and also to destroy unity of feeling and 
action among the subject peoples, all non-Moslem 
races were classified by Mohammed II., after the 
capture of Constantinople in 1453, according to their 
religious belief. These lines of division have always 



Americans in Turkey. 153 

been strictly observed by the government in all its 
dealings with non-Moslems. Even many of the taxes 
are collected through ecclesiastical organizations. 
This policy of the government, together with the 
bitter persecution of Protestants by the older 
churches, led to the formation of a Protestant civil 
community in 1850, contrary to the original desire 
and instruction of the missionaries, and in spite of 
the protests of many evangelicals who preferred to 
retain connection with their ancestral church, but 
who were thrust out with violence and anathema. 

The Protestant communities which then sprang up 
all over the Empire, were not ruled, as are the other 
Oriental churches, by hierarchical bodies. The mis- 
sionaries, who are mostly Congregational or Presby- 
terian, while ready to advise and guide, have never 
exercised ecclesiastical control over their converts. 
The Protestants, in accordance with their inherent 
spirit and beliefs, have naturally organized their re- 
ligious and civil communities on a simple representa- 
tive basis, which has gradually developed indepen- 
dence of thought and character, and desire for 
progress. 

We come now to the indirect results of missionary 
effort, namely, the stimulus of evangelical example and 
success upon the Gregorian and other communities 
includine even the Mohammedans. The homes, 
schools, and churches of the missionaries have been 
open to all comers ; their varied literature has gone 
everwhere ; their aid in sickness, distress, and 
famine has always ignored race or creed. Many 
thousands of Armenians, Greeks, Syrians, Jacob- 



154 The Crisis in Turkey. 

ites and others — Moslems being prevented by 
their rulers except in rare instances — have received 
education in Protestant schools, without changing 
their church relations. But, nevertheless, a deep 
impression has been made on these pupils by con- 
tact no less than by teaching, and this, together with 
a natural and worthy loyalty to their own institutions, 
has stirred up all the other races to higher ideals and 
efforts. 1 

The existence of a marked desire for progress by 
all classes is now clear, and that this is largely due to 
foreign missionaries is admitted by all 2 — gratefully 
by the Armenians and Christians generally, but often 
with chagrin by the Turks, who find themselves 

1 " The creation of churches, strict in their discipline, and protest- 
ing against the mass of superstitions which smother all spiritual life 
in the National Armenian Church, is undoubtedly having a very salu- 
tary effect far beyond the limited membership, and is tending to force 
reform upon an ancient church which contains within herself the ele- 
ments of resurrection." — Mrs. Bishop, youmeys in Persia and Kurd- 
istan, vol. ii., p. 336. 

2 Unhappily there are some who can see nothing but bigotry and 
mistakes in what the missionaries have done. Such characters are to 
be found among all races, as the following extract shows : 

" It might be thought that here, [Missilonghi] on the spot where he 
[Byron] breathed his last, malignity would have held her accursed 
tongue ; but it was not so. He had committed the fault, unpardonable 
in the eyes of political opponents, of attaching himself to one of the 
great parties that then divided Greece ; and though he had given her all 
that man could give, in his own dying words, ' his time, his means, 
his health, and, lastly, his life,' the Greeks spoke of him with all the 
rancour and bitterness of party spirit. Even death had not won obliv- 
ion for his political offences ; and I heard those who saw him die in 
her cause affirm that Byron was no friend to Greece." — Stephens, 
Greece ', Turkey \ Russia, and Poland, New York : Harper and Brothers, 
1839. 



Americans in Turkey. 155 

being rapidly left behind in the forward march which 
they have been too stupid or too proud to fall in 
with. It is, however, very gratifying to see that the 
Mohammedan leaders in both Church and State are 
at length becoming aware of the marked intellectual 
awakening and substantial progress that education 
has quietly brought about among the Christian races. 
Robert College on the Bosphorus stands at the head 
of the many well equipped American institutions in 
Turkey which have largely contributed to these 
results. 

We gladly recognize the wisdom and energy of 
His Majesty the present Sultan, in trying to estab- 
lish Moslem schools throughout his empire, some of 
which are already quite large, creditable, and popu- 
. lar with the Turks. It cannot be doubted that these 
schools will lead ultimately to an awakening and a 
desire for reform and progress among Moslems 
which will make them no less restive under present 
conditions than are the non-Moslems to-day, and 
thus hasten the necessary reforms. While most 
hearty praise is due His Majesty for fostering and 
even forcing education among his Moslem subjects, 
it is greatly to be regretted that there is another side 
to this policy as carried out by his agents, namely, 
an equal zeal in curtailing and even closing, as far as 
possible, Christian schools. 

The hostility of the Sublime Porte has been grow- 
ing, just in proportion as the excellent results of 
American institutions, already enumerated, have 
appeared. Does the Turkish Government desire 
that its hostility be considered the most convincing 



156 The Crisis in Turkey. 

proof of the success of disinterested efforts to benefit 
its subjects of all classes? And does it propose 
to continue to cripple and suppress such efforts ? If 
so, it is not the two hundred and fifty American 
missionaries in her borders who will suffer, but the 
many schools and churches which they have planted 
and the many thousands of peaceable and hitherto 
loyal subjects, who have been taught in them to 
serve God as well as honor the king. 



APPENDIX A. 

A BIT OF AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN TURKEY. 

THE CASE. 

(Foreign Relations of the United States, 1884, pp. 538-539. J ) 

(Inclosure in No. 317.) 

Mr. Wallace to Aarifi Pasha. 

Note Verbale. 

Legation of the United States, 

Constantinople, January 24, 1884. 

The legation of the United States of America has the honor to in- 
vite the attention of his highness, the minister of foreign affairs, to 
the matters following : 

By note No. 167, June 13, 1S83, the legation informed his high- 
ness that two American citizens, traveling in the vilayet of Bitlis, had 
been set upon by Kurds, robbed, and left to die, and that the 
governor-general of the vilayet had manifested the most singular in- 
difference about the affair, and might be fairly charged with responsi- 
bility for the escape of the malefactors. The suggestion was then 
made that his highness would serve the cause of humanity and justice 
by ordering the most energetic measures to be taken for the appre- 
hension of the robbers. 

By a communication, No. 71235, June 13, 1883, his highness was 
good enough to answer the note of the legation, and give the pleas- 

1 This is an exact copy of the official documents as published by 
the State Department, capitalization included. 

157 



158 The Crisis in Turkey. 

ing intelligence that the governor-general had succeeded in discover- 
ing the goods taken from the two gentlemen, and that the robbers 
had been arrested and delivered up to justice. This information his 
highness reported as derived from the governor-general. 

This report the legation found it necessary to correct; and for that 
purpose it addressed a second note to his highness, the minister of 
foreign affairs, No. 179, dated September 10, 1883, declaring that the 
robbers had not been arrested, and that the goods and money taken 
from Messrs. Knapp and Reynolds had been returned to them, but in 
small parts. Under impression that it was yet possible to obtain the 
powerful assistance of the Sublime Porte in bringing the thieves and 
assassins to justice, the legation in the same note proceeded to give 
the full particulars of the affair, both those connected with the as- 
sault and those descriptive of the action of the governor-general. Of 
the assault, it remarked that Messrs. Knapp and Reynolds, accepting 
the assurance of the governor-general that the roads were perfectly 
safe, set out on their journey without a guard of zaptiehs. They put 
up for a night at a house where there was present Moussa Bey, son 
of Meza Bey, an influential Kurdish chief. When they took their 
coffee they failed to send a cup of it to the said Moussa, who feeling 
himself insulted by the inattention, took four assistants and next day 
waylaid the gentlemen, one of whom, Mr. Knapp, they beat with 
clubs until they supposed him dead. Moussa Bey, with his own 
hand, cut down 'Dr. Reynolds, giving him ten cuts with a sword. 
The two were then bound and dragged into the bushes and there left 
to die. That there might be no excuse, such as that the murderers 
were unknown, the legation gave his highness the names of the sub- 
ordinate assassins and their places of abode, Sherif Oglon Osman 
and Iskan Oglon Hassan, both of the village of Movnok. A third 
one was pointed out as the servant of Moussa Bey, living in the vil- 
lage of Kabiaa. Of the action of the governor-general the legation 
said further that when the affair was reported to him he made a show 
of action by sending zaptiehs to arrest the robbers, but, singular to 
remark, he selected Meza Bey, the father of Moussa, to take charge 
of the party. Going to the village of Auzont, Meza Bey pointed out 
four Kurds of another tribe as the guilty men, took them into cus- 
tody and carried them for identification to Messrs. Knapp and Rey- 
nolds, who said they were not the assailants. 

During the night, in Aozou, a bundle was* thrown through a window 
into a room occupied by the police, which on examination proved to 



Appendix. 159 



contain a portion of the stolen goods. With this the governor-gen- 
eral rested from his efforts and dispatched to his highness the minis- 
ter of foreign affairs, that the stolen goods were recovered and 
returned, and the felons captured and punished. This report, the 
legation took the liberty of Informing his highness, was not true, also 
that the chief of the assassins, Moussa Bey, was still at large ; and 
to emphasize its statement, the legation further said to his highness, 
that the details it communicated were current through all the region 
of Bitlis, having been first given out by Moussa himself. The lega- 
tion then, in the same note, exposed the maladministration of the 
governor-general in language plain as respect for his highness, the 
minister, and for the Sublime Porte would permit, and suggested as 
the only means of accomplishing anything like redress that a brave 
impartial officer be sent to Bitlis to investigate the conduct of the 
governor and take the affair in his own hands. " Such a step," it 
was added, " might serve to save the lives of many Christians," and 
it was further represented that ' ' could the assassins be brought to 
just sentence it would unquestionably lessen the demand for indem- 
nity which otherwise it would be the duty of the legation to present 
against the Imperial Government in this connection." 

On November 7, 1883, the legation of the United States, by a third 
note, No. 184, communicated to his highness, the minister of foreign 
affairs, that the governor-general of Bitlis had confronted four per- 
sons with Mr. Knapp for identification, and that that gentleman had 
recognized Moussa Bey as one of those who had robbed and wounded 
him. The legation of the United States then expressed a hope that 
the minister of foreign affairs would give proper orders for bringing 
Moussa Bey and his companions in crime before the tribunals for 
trial. 

Still later, on November 12, 1883, the legation of the United 
States addressed a fourth note, No. 185, to his highness, the minister 
of foreign affairs, detailing again the circumstances of the attempted 
murder of Messrs. Knapp and Reynolds, and representing the un- 
trustworthiness of the governor-general by charging that Moussa Bey 
had already obtained from him assurances of immunity in the event 
of a trial and conviction. 

His highness, the minister, was then requested that, if it was 
decided to maintain the governor-general at his post, orders be given 
for the transfer of the criminals to Constantinople for trial. 

The three notes last named of the legation of the United States 



160 The Crisis in Turkey. 

have not been answered by his highness, the minister of foreign 
affairs, except in a note, dated December 8, 1 883, in which he is 
pleased to renew assurances based upon telegrams from the governor- 
general, which are utterly unreliable. 

Wherefore, abandoning hope of justice through the governor- 
general of Bitlis, and the judicial tribunals of the empire, the legation 
of the United States finds itself compelled to change its form of ap- 
plication for redress, and demand of the Sublime Porte indemnity in 
behalf of Messrs. Knapp and Reynolds, for the former ^1,500, and 
for the latter, because of the more serious nature of his injuries, 
^2,000. 



THE POSITION TAKEN IN WASHINGTON. 

(Foreign Relations of the United States, 1884, p. 544.) 

No. 419. 

Mr. Frelinghnysen to Mr. Wallace. 

(No. 153.) Department of State, 

Washington, February ij, 1884. 

Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your No. 317, of the 
25th ultimo, relative to the case of the Rev. Mr. Knapp and Dr. 
Reynolds, murderously attacked by Kurds near Bitlis, and to say 
that, after a careful consideration of all the facts before the Depart- 
ment, the inaction of the governor of Bitlis and the failure of the 
supreme Government to force him to undertake such measures as the 
case evidently demanded, must be regarded as a denial of justice. 
While this Government is always averse to making money demands 
for indemnity in countries whose administration of justice may differ 
from our own, the Department feels compelled to resort to this 
remedy under circumstances which manifestly make the local officers 
and the Government of the Porte responsible for the failure to do 
justice in this case. 

The action reported in your dispatch is, consequently, approved. 
I am, &c., 

Fred'k T. Frelinghuysen, 



Appendix. 1 6 1 

THE POSITION TAKEN IN CONSTANTINOPLE. 

General Lew Wallace is understood to have been emphatically 
a persona grata as U. S. Minister to Turkey, in fact to have en- 
joyed, to a very exceptional degree, the personal confidence and 
friendship of His Majesty the present Sultan. The following quota- 
tion will show what treatment even he received in the discharge of 
his official duties in the case under consideration : 

From the Regular Correspondent of the Tribune. 

Constantinople, March i, 1884. 

The Porte, in deciding how far it is safe to affront foreign Gov- 
ernments, has even ranked the United States below some of the 
European States. The Porte during the past year has treated Gen- 
eral Wallace as if he were the representative of a Danubian Princi- 
pality. Remonstrance after remonstrance against fresh violations of 
the treaties it has left unanswered, and it has repeatedly omitted the 
courtesy of a bare acknowledgment of their receipt. In fact, Turkey 
has been relying upon the distance of the United States. Perhaps its 
officials even suppose that the American navy is afraid to risk adven- 
tures so far from home as the coasts of the Levant. 

General Wallace found it necessary, for the sake of the safety of 
American citizens in Turkey, to press for some definition of the situa- 
tion. During nearly five weeks he had been refused a personal 
interview with the Minister of Foreign Affairs on the ground of 
" indisposition." During all that time the representative of that Min- 
ister declined to enter upon any discussion of the important questions 
at issue. Four times the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United 
States had been turned away from the door of the Sublime Porte by 
the refusal of the Grand Vizier to see him. Each time plausible 
reasons were assigned which seemed to render any insistance on the 
part of the General uncourteous. Yet it became daily more evident 
that all these plausible excuses for declining negotiation on the inju- 
ries done by Turkey to American commerce and to American citizens 
were part of a settled purpose not to redress the wrongs. — New York 
Semi- Weekly Tribune, March 28, 1884. 



1 62 The Crisis in Turkey, 

THE RESULT. 

The ten years that have elapsed since the above was written clearly 
show that what seemed then to be a " settled purpose " has become 
the settled policy of the Ottoman Government in regard to Americans 
and their rights in Turkey. 

In regard to the outcome of the case of Messrs. Knapp and Ray- 
nolds, the humiliating fact must be recorded that not one cent of the 
indemnity demanded by the United States of America has to this day 
been obtained. The monster, Moussa Bey, was allowed by the 
Turkish Government to continue his outrages on the Armenian vil- 
lages of the great Moosh plain, until his record became so appalling, 
that under European pressure the Porte summoned him to Constanti- 
nople, where he was entertained as the Sultan's guest. He was 
whitewashed by the courts, but the Sultan was prevailed upon to 
invite him to make a pilgrimage to Medina at his expense, and there 
spend the remainder of his days in religious exercises. 



APPENDIX B. 
U. S. CONSULATES IN EASTERN TURKEY. 

The following petition was recently presented to the Hon. Walter 
Q. Gresham, Secretary of State, and to the Senate and House of 
Representatives of the United States of America, for the establish- 
ment of U. S. Consulates at Erzerum and Harpoot. The necessary 
legislation has been promptly enacted, for which the thanks of all 
Americans in Turkey is due to His Excellency the President, to the 
Secretary of State and to members of both Houses of Congress. 

Washington, D. C, Jan. 3, 1895. 
Apropos to the recent massacre of five thousand Armenians in 
Turkey, it is clearly inexpedient for the United States to mix up in 
the Eastern Question. But it is equally clear that the duty of pro- 
tecting a large body of native born American citizens constantly sub- 
jected to danger, injury and insult in that land is not complicated by 
any Monroe Doctrine. In their interests, attention is called to this 
brief statement of facts, and to a practical request for consular pro- 
tection. 

1. Number of Individuals and Interests Involved. 
Distributed in thirty of the principal cities of Asiatic Turkey alone. 

there is a permanent body of two hundred and fifty Americans, not 
including their children, who hold over two million dollars of Ameri- 
can property for residence and the use of their educational, medical, 
publishing and religious enterprises. 

These figures do not cover the large commercial interests of Ameri- 
cans in Turkey, for which statistics are not at hand. 

2. Nature and Extent of the Danger to which they 
are Exposed. 

There are two sources of danger : first, the lawlessness of numerous 
highwaymen who infest the country, and of the fanatical Moslem 

163 



164 The Crisis in Turkey. 

population of the cities ; and second, the hostility of Turkish 
officials, who have repeatedly failed to restrain, and in some cases 
have even encouraged attacks upon the lives and property of American 
citizens. 

3. Evidence of this Dangerous Condition. 

So far back as June 29th, 1881, Secretary Blaine, in official instruc- 
tions to Minister Wallace at Constantinople, wrote : 

"Your attention will doubtless be prominently and painfully 
drawn to the insecurity of the lives and property of foreign travelers 
in Turkey, and the failures of the authorities to prevent or repress 
outrages upon American citizens by wayside robbers and murderers, 
or even to execute its own laws in the rare instances of the perpetra- 
tors of such outrages being brought to justice. I cannot take a better 
text on which to base this instruction, than the accompanying copy 
of a letter addressed to the President by a number of American resi- 
dents in Turkey. Its statements are known to be entirely within the 
truth, and can be verified abundantly from the files of your legation. 
They show in simple yet forcible language, the insecurity of traveling 
in that country, and the instances to the number of eight, within the 
past two years, when American citizens have been robbed and 
beaten by lawless marauders. On these occasions the lives of the 
assailed have been at the mercy of the robbers and, in one instance 
at least, the taking of life preceded the robbery."' — Foreign Rela- 
tions of the United States 1881. 

The above extract refers to outrages in Western Asia Minor and 
the vicinity of Constantinople, but it is well known that in the 
Eastern and interior part of Turkey, where many of us live, the in- 
security is greater and has steadily increased, during the thirteen 
years that have elapsed since the above facts were admitted by the State 
Department. 

The murderous attack by a Kurdish chief in person, which nearly 
cost Dr. G. C. Raynolds, of Van his life, and for which no indemnity 
was ever obtained, though the assailant was positively identified in 
court, is reported in full in Foreign Relations of the United States, 
1883, 1884, and 1890. 

The arrest and indignities inflicted upon Mr. Richardson of Erz- 
erum, by the Governor-General, for which no apology even was ever 
sectired, are related in Foreign Relations of the United States 1891. 

The burning of Marsovan College by an unrestrained Turkish mob 



Appendix. 165 

and the danger to the lives of many American residents is found in 
Foreign Relations of the United States 1893. 

More cases of injury and insult, may be found in the same official 
records. But in many other instances it has been felt to be useless 
and inexpedient to even report them. The absence of any American 
representative to substantiate and vindicate our rights on the ground, 
and the hopelessness of securing anything but further injury by trying 
to press our claims, often drives us to the humiliating necessity of 
suffering injustice with scarcely a protest. 

THE REQUEST. 

We feel that the condition shown by the above evidence, not to 
add more, abundantly justifies a renewed request for some Consular 
protection in the Eastern part of Turkey, for the American citizens 
permanently residing there in the prosecution of lawftil pursuits. 
Our present exposed and helpless condition is clearly set forth in a 
communication from the United States Legation at Constantinople, 
to the State Department : "It may not be doubted that the absence 
of an American Consul at Erzroom leaves our citizens there singularly 
destitute of means to vindicate their rights and protect their interests ; 
this is the more regrettable as Erzroom is a missionary station of con- 
siderable importance, and situated in a province where official pro- 
tection is most frequently and urgently needed. The British Consul 
there is instructed to act ' unofficially ' for our citizens, but his right 
to represent them is not recognized by the Ottoman authorities ; the 
obvious consequence is, that when his good offices are most needed, they 
are of least avail." Foreign Relations of United States 1891. 

We are thus seen to be cut off from Consular protection of any 
kind. The nearest U. S. Consul, Mr. Jewett of Sivas, an excellent 
man, is unavailable for us for three reasons : first, the delay and 
difficulty in communicating with him on account of our isolation, and 
the very circuitous post-routes, in case the local authorities were kind 
enough not to intercept our letters, as they have repeatedly, even the 
official correspondence of the United States Minister {Foreign Re- 
lations of the U. S. 1893); second, the distance and methods of 
travel are such that probably from one to two months would elapse 
after any outrage, before the Sivas Consul could be notified and 
arrive ; third, the Consul at Sivas could not leave his post without 
neglecting the large American interests in Asia Minor. 



1 66 The Crisis in Turkey. 

Aside from being needed when special difficulties do occur, it is 
obvious that the mere presence of a United States Consul on the 
ground would have a marked effect in deterring both the lawless and 
fanatical elements, and the officials, who have never seen the stars and 
stripes, from repeating acts which have caused much injury to the 
interests of American citizens, and have been the occasion of tedious 
and unpleasant diplomatic correspondence between the two countries. 
The expense of living in Turkey is unusually low. 

In view of all the foregoing facts, it is urgently requested that 
American Consuls be located at Erzerum and Harpoot. These cities 
are large centres of population and of American interests, and the 
seat of Provincial Governors. They have large commercial and 
strategic importance, and as good facilities for communication by 
post, telegraph, or private messenger as the country affords. From 
Erzerum, Bitlis and Van could also be cared for, while Mardin and 
Mosul would naturally be under Harpoot, and thus the Americans of 
that whole territory would be brought within two or three week's 
journey of Consular protection. 

We are from seven hundred to one thousand miles from Constan- 
tinople, which means a journey of three to six weeks. The fact that 
at least 5,000 men, women and children in our midst have been mas- 
sacred, and this fact kept nearly three months from the civilized world, 
is a. significant hint as to our isolation and danger. The articles in 
the last Harper's Weekly, Dec. 29, and in the Review of Reviews, 
Jan. 1895, give much light on the situation. 



APPENDIX C. 

DR. HAMLIN'S EXPLANATION. 

(New York Herald, December 20, i8g4.) 

To the Editor of the Herald : 

A cutting from the Herald has been sent to me to-day containing a 
letter of His Excellency, Mavroyeni, on the Armenian atrocities. I 
must strongly object to the use he makes of a letter of mine in the 
Boston Congregalionalist of last year (December 23, 1893). 

The object of that letter was to show the absurdity of the revolu- 
tionary plotters. The Armenians are a noble race, but few in num- 
ber, scattered and unarmed. The Turkish Government has never 
had the least fear of any such movement. It knows well that there is 
no place in the Empire where one thousand or even one hundred Ar- 
menians could assemble with hostile intent. And besides they have 
no arms, and they are not accustomed to their use. They would be 
lambs in the midst of wolves. Every one knows this who knows any- 
thing of Turkey outside of Constantinople,, 

It is to be greatly regretted that the Ottoman Ambassador should 
attempt to cover up the path of these horrid atrocities which have 
agitated the whole Christian world and for which Turkey must give 
account. It were far better to deplore the fact and work for justice 
and judgment. It may be the time has passed when such deeds of 
blood and torture, committed upon unarmed men, women and chil- 
dren, can be condoned by the civilized world. 

The plots of the revolutionists were harmless as to any effective 
force, but were very pernicious in arousing fanaticism. The fact 
that a few hair-brained young men in foreign lands had plotted a revo- 
lution was a sufficient reason in the view of Moslem fanaticism for 
devoting the whole race to destruction. It was this which I feared 
and it is this which has happened. 

167 



1 68 The Crisis in Turkey. 

Another object of the letter, from which His Excellency has quoted, 
was to draw attention to the fact that this revolutionary movement is 
a game which Russia is playing in her own interests. And she has 
played it well. She has again caught Turkey in her trap. The 
whole civilized world will now approve of her inarching in with force 
to stop the slaughter of an industrious, peaceful, unarmed peasantry. 
If Russia enters, it will be with professions of great kindness toward 
the Sultan. It will be to aid him in his well known benevolent in- 
tentions in the government of his Christian subjects ! But she will 
call the Armenians to her standard and will arm and train them and 
they will prove a brave and valiant soldiery. Some of the ablest 
generals of the Russian army have been Armenians. Thus armed 
and trained, with the aid of their Russian allies, they will defend 
their own homes in the Sassoun or any other district. 

Turkey has brought this upon herself. His Excellency is a Greek 
gentleman, and has a natural sympathy with Russia. His influence 
has been to magnify the revolutionary plots instead of showing, as 
my letter did, their insignificance and their Russian character, and 
has led his government to give to them an importance which seems 
absurd. The Turkish Government has had sufficient opportunity to 
study and understand Russia since the Treaty of 1829, and again of 
1833. Have her trusted advisers been true to her, or have they 
betrayed her interests ? 

The civilized and Christian world awaits with profound and fixed 
attention the solution of the question whether bloody, fanatical vio- 
lence or law shall reign over the Eastern regions of the Turkish 
Empire. 

Cyrus Hamlin. 

Lexington, Mass., December 18, 1894. 



APPENDIX D. 



THE CENSORSHIP OF THE PRESS. 



With what intelligence and religious toleration the censorship of 
the press is conducted may be judged from examples found in an 
official document : 

" The quotation, in religious books, of the words of Scripture for 
proof or illustration, has been subjected to the will of the censor ; and 
even the printing of religious books has been objected to on the 
ground that since Christians are graciously allowed to use the Holy 
Bible, they need no other books of religion. Appeal from the deci- 
sions of the censors is practically unavailing. This censor insists 
that the Scriptural phrase ' Kingdom of Christ ' may not be used by 
Christians. 

" The index list of the Bible lessons for 1893 is simply a table of 
contents prepared by the British Sunday School Union. The cen- 
sors have refused to permit the publication of this index list, unless 
some fifty titles are erased, or modified into a form at variance with 
the matter of the lessons, or expanded to a degree impossible in a brief 
table of contents, for example : St. Lukeiv., 14-21, ' Gospel liberty.' 
The word 'liberty' must be erased. Jeremiah xxxiii., 7-16, 'Sor- 
row turned to joy.' This title must be suppressed. Haggai ii., 1-9, 
' Encouraging the people.' This title, which refers to the Divine 
encouragement given to the people in the work of rebuilding the 
temple in the days of Zerubbabel, must be erased. 

"Psalm xxxiii., 10-22, ' Wicked devices frustrated.' This title must 
be stricken out. 

"Esther iv., 1-9, 'Sorrow in the palace.' This title must be 
suppressed. 

" Romans iv., 1-8, ' Saved by grace.' This title must be modified 
to read ' Saved from sin by grace.' 

169 



1 70 The Crisis in Turkey. 

"Psalm xxxviii., 8-15, 'Hope in distress.' This title must be 
suppressed. 

"Joshua i., 1-9, ' Fear not.' This title can not be allowed. 

" Romans viii., 31-39, ' Rejoicing in persecution.' This title must 
be erased. 

" Romans xv., 25-33, ' A benevolent object.' This title cannot be 
allowed to stand unless the object is stated." — Foreign Relations of 
the United States, 1893. 

We learn that four months after the complaint was made the par- 
ticular points specified above were arranged. But as soon as foreign 
pressure was relaxed the activity of the Censor revived, and is now 
more intolerable than ever. A gentleman of long experience and 
intimate knowledge writing from behind the scenes within a month, 
states: "The Censorship of the Press is so severe as to amount 
almost to a prohibition. At Constantinople a most reckless and 
destructive mutilation of books goes on ; and, contrary to the ex- 
pressed utterances of the Porte guaranteeing religious liberty, Chris- 
tian doctrines are expunged or changed, so as, at times, to become 
ridiculous and false. The men appointed as Censors of the Press 
seem to be utterly ignorant of all Christian literature and history and 
their object is to make all books conform to the doctrines of Islam. 

" The religious weekly of the American Mission in Syria, which 
had been published for thirty years, was suppressed for a whole year, 
no reason being given ; and when the permit was finally secured, it 
was accompanied by puerile and humiliating conditions." 

Some special departments of literature, such as history and poetry, 
are forbidden, wholesale, by the Censor. Many of the Censor's deci- 
sions and the grounds on which they are based would be most laugh- 
able, but for the fact that they are part of an attempt to throttle and 
starve the hungry and growing minds of millions. 



APPENDIX E. 
PARTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE SUBJECT. 

HISTORICAL. 

Norman, Armenia and the Campaign of i8yj. London, 1878. 

MlLNER, The Turkish Empire. London : Religious Tract So- 
ciety. 

Clark, The Arabs arid the Turks. New York : Dodd & Mead. 

Tozer, The Church and the Eastern Empire. New York : Ran- 
dolph: London : Longmans. 

Latimer, Russia and Turkey in the XIX. Century. Chicago : 
McClurg&Co., 1894. 

Morfill, Russia. New York : Putnams. London : T. Fisher 
Unwin, 1893. 

Lane Poole, Turkey. New York : Putnams. London : T. 
Fisher Unwin, 1893. 

Churchill, Druzes and Maronites. London: Quaritch, 1862. 

Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe, The Eastern Question. 
London : John Murray, 1881. 

Latham, Russian and Turk. London : Allen, 1878. 

Layaru, Nineveh and its Remains. London : Murray. 

Rawlinson, The Five Great Monarchies. Murray. 

Rawlinson, The Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy. Longmans. 

Rawlinson, The Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy. Longmans. 

travel. 

Smith and D wight, Researches in Armenia. 2 vols. Boston : 
Crocker & Brewster, 1833. 

Stephens, Greece, Turkey, Russia, and Poland. 2 vols. New 
York : Harpers, 1839, 

171 



i 7 2 The Crisis in Turkey, 

Southgate, A Tour through Armenia, Persia, and Mesopotamia. 
2 vols. New York : D. Appleton & Co., 1840. 

Van Lennep, Travels in Asia Minor. 2 vols. New York : Van 
Lennep, 1870. 

Van Lennep, Bible Lands : Their Modern Customs and Manners. 
New York : Harpers, 1875. 

Theilmann, youmey in the Caucasus, Persia, and Turkey. 
2 vols. London: 1875. 

Creagh, Armenians, Koords, and Turks. London : 1880. 

Tozer, Turkish Armenia and Eastern Asia Minor. London : 
1 881. 

Bishop, "Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan. 2 vols. New York : 
Putnams. London: John Murray, 1891. 



MOHAMMEDANISM. 

Sale's, The Koran. 2 vols. Philadelphia : Wardle, 1833. 

Smith, R. Bosworth, Mohammed and Mohammedanism. London: 
John Murray. New York : Harpers, 1875. 

Washburn, The Points of Contact and Contrast between Christi- 
anity and Mohammedanism. Chicago : The Parliament Publishing 
Company, 1893. 

Burton, Pilgrimage to El Medinah and Mecca. New York : 
Putnams. Belfast : Mullan. 

Muir, Life of Mahomet. London. 

Sprenger, Life of Mohammed. Allahabad, 1 85 1. 

Irving, Life of Mahomet. Putnams. 

Stobart, Lslam and its Founder. Christian Knowledge Soc. 

Pfander, Mezan el Hoc. London : Church Missionary Society. 

Hughes, Notes oit Muhammadanism. London : Allen, 1877. 

Osborn, Lslam tinder the Arabs. London : Longmans, Green. 

MuiR, The Coran. London : Christian Knowledge Society. 

Koelle,. Mohammed and Mohammedanism. London : Riving- 
ton's, 1889. 

Arnold, Lslam and Christianity. London : Longmans. 

Ameer Ali, The Spirit of Lslam. 

Ameer Ali, Life and Teachings of Mohammed, London : 
Williams. 



Appendix. i/; 



MISSIONS. 

The Missionary Herald, 1820-1894. Boston : The American 
Board. 

Dwight, Christianity Revived in the East. New York : Baker 
& Scribner, 1850. 

Anderson, Missions to the Oriental Churches. 2 vols. Boston : 
Congregational Publishing Society, 1S72. 

Wheeler, Letters from Eden. Boston : American Tract Society, 
1868. 

Wheeler, Ten Years on the Euphrates. Boston : American 
Tract Society, i860. 

Wheeler, Daughters of Armenia. New York : American Board, 
1891. 

Prime, Forty Years in the Turkish Empire, or Memoirs of 
Rev. William Goodell, D.D., Boston : American Tract Society, 1877. 

Laurie, Missions and Science. Boston : American Board, 1885. 

Laurie, Dr. Grant and the Mountain Nestorians. Boston : 
Gould & Lincoln, 1853. 

Jessup, The Mohammedan Missionary Problem. Philadelphia : 
Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1879. 

Schauffler, Autobiography. New York : Randolph, 1888. 

Hamlin, Among the Turks. New York : Robt. Carter & Bro. 

Hamlin, My Life and Times. Boston : Congregational S. S. and 
Pub. Soc. 

ARMENIAN HISTORY. 

Moses Chorenensis, Armenian History, Arm. and Lat. London : 
William and George Whiston, 1736. 

Langlois, Victor, Collection des LListoriens anciens et modernes de 
rArme'nie, en Francais. Vol. i. Historiens grecs et syriens traduits 
anciennement en Armenien. Vol. II. Historiens armeniens de 
5 e siecle. 8° . Paris, 1S67. 

Dulaurier. Recucil des Historiens des Croisades. Documents 
Armeniens. Paris, 1869. Folio with fac-simile reproductions. Pp. 
855. Arm. and French. 

Dulaurier, Ettide sur V Organisation Politique, Religieuse et 
Administrative du Royaume de la P elite- Arme'nie a Ve'poque des 
Croisades. Paris, 1862. 

Lenormant, Sur V Ethnographie et V Histoire de V ' Arme'nie ', 
avant les Ache'me'nides. In Lettres Assyriologiques. 1871. 



1 74 The Crisis in Turkey. 

Inscriptions d'tin Reliquaire Arme'nien. With plates. Paris, 
1883. 

Neumann, The History of Vartan by Elisaeus. Translated from 
the Armenian. London, 1830. 

MALAN, The Life and Times of St. Gregory the Illuminator. 
Translated from Armenian. London, 1868. 

Chamich, History of Armenia. Translated from Armenian into 
English by Avdall. Calcutta, 1827. 

Stubbs, William. The Mediceval Kingdoms of Cyprtis and Ar- 
menia. In Seventeen Lectures, etc. 1886. 

Genealogical Catalogue of the Kings of Armenia. Oriental Trans- 
lation Fund. Vol. ii. London, 1834. 

Gabrielian, The Armenians or People of Ararat. Philadelphia : 
Allen, Lane & Scott, 1892. 

ARMENIAN LITERATURE. 

Neve, Felix, L ''Arme'nie Chretienne et sa Litter attire. Louvain, 

1886. 

Catalogue des anciennes traductions Arme'niennes, siecles iv.-xiii. 
8°> pp. 783. Venezia, 1889. 

D wight, Catalogue of all Works known to exist in the Armenian 
Language earlier than the Seventeenth Century. American Oriental 
Society. Vol. iii. 1853. 

Fortescue, The Armenian Church, History, Literature, Doc- 
trine. London, 1872. 

Issaverdenz, The Divine Ordinances according to the Catholic 
Armenian Ritual. Venice, 1867. 

Alishan, Armenian Popular Songs. Armenian and English. 
Venice, 1867. 

Lord Byron's Armenian Exercises and Poetry. Armenian and 
English. Venice, 1870. 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Aberdeen, Lord, 72 
Aghtamar, 141, 145 
Alexander, 53, 133 
Americans 

Position, 67, 148 

Number, 149 

Work, 141, 148-151 

Influence, 152-154 

Interests, 147-166 
Anglo-Armenian Assoc., 69 
Anglo-Turkish Convention 

See England 
Armenia 
Land 

Name, 44, 46 

Extent, 45 

Aspects, 44-46 

Inhabitants, 45, 46 

Condition, 9, 15, 32, 35, 39, 
42, 46, 62-65 

Autonomy, 69, 81 
Race 

Origin, 132 

Number, 45, 142 

Distribution, 44 

Characteristics, 52, 140 

Condition, chap, i., ii., iii., 
iv. 



" Revolution," Preface, 

Chap, i., 69, 81, 167 
Progress, 79, 117, 154 

History 

Biblical, 132, 133 
Classical, 134, 135 
Armenian Sources, 144 
In General, 53 

Church 

Apostolic Tradition, 136 

Founder, 136 

Doctrine, 137 

Form, 137, 144 

Heroic Struggle, 53 

Decline, 139 

Reform, 140, 143, 154 

Catholicos, 137, 138 

Political Significance, 138 

Future, 138 
Literature 

Language, 132, 143 

Pre-Christian, 143 

Golden Age, 144 

Second Period, 144 

Modern Revival, 146 

General Character, 144 
Massacre 

See Massacres 
Arnaut, 98 



175 



i/6 



General Index. 



Austria, Preface, 104 
Author, Purpose, Preface, 147 



B 



Bagdad, 48 
Baibourt, 46 
Bashi-Bazouk, 98, 102 
Bashkalla, 16, 49 
Berlin Treaty. See Treaties 
Bibliography, Appendix E 
Bilotti, Consul, 113 
Bishop, Mrs., 62, 67, 131, 154 
Bismarck, Preface, 78 
Bitlis, 12, 16, 37, 43 
Blue-Books. See England 
Blowitz, M. de, 83 
Bosnia, 83, 84 
Britannica, Encyc, 48, 49 
Bryce, Hon. James, Preface, 69 
Bulgaria, 73, 83, 96, 101, 126 
Byron, Lord, 154 
Byzantine Empire, 53, 134 



Cairo University, 75 
Castle, Kurdish, 49 
Catholicos. See Armenia 
Censorship, 73, Append. C 
Chermside, Consul, 113 
CHios/97 
Chosroes, 137 
Christianity, Toleration. See 

Mohammedanism 
Churchill, 96, 100 
Circassians, 73 
Code Napoleon, 89 
Commission of Inquiry. See 

Massacres 



Consular Reports. 

British. See England 

United States, 66 
Council of Chalcedon, 157 
Courts. See Turkey 
Crete. See Massacres 
Crimean War, 72 
Crisis, 33, 35, 82, 84, Preface 
Cyprus Convention, 72, 76 

D 

Diarbekir, 48 
Diplomacy 

American, Preface, Append. 
A, B 

European, Preface, Chap. v. 

Turkish, 70, 77, 93 

E 

Eastern Question, Preface, 6S, 

85 
Education, 87, 140, 143, 150, 

155 
Egypt, 83 
England 

Attitude, Preface 
Responsibility, 69, 73, 76, 
79, 103, 128. See Treaties 
Efforts, 76-79, 123 
Consular Reports, Preface, 
48, 66, 68, 74, 77, 78, 112 
Erzerum, 46, 62, 66, 113 
Erzingan, 21, 23, 46 
Everett, Consul, 113 



Fanaticism. See Mohamme- 
danism 



General Index. 



177 



France, Preface, 78, 104, 107, 

138, 140, 149 
Freeman, 79, 85, 88, 117 



G 



Genghis Khan, 136 

Germany, Preface, 7S, 104 

Gladstone, on 

Consular Reports, Preface 
Sassoun Massacre, 121-125 
Turkish Rule, 126-130 

Goschen, 78 

Granville, 77 

Greece, 83, 89, 97, 127, 133, 154 

Gregory, The Illuminator. See 
Armenian Church 



Independent, The, 54, 95, 101 
Information 

Channels, 66 

Danger of, Preface, I, 15, 16, 
54, 62 

Sultan's, 13, 89, 92, 93 
Islam. See Mohammedanism 
Italy, Preface, 104 



Jacobite, 54, 89 
Jessup, 75 
Jesuit, 137 
Jews, 68, 89 

K 



H 



Hallward, Consul, 16 
Hamlin, Cyrus, 81, 167 
Hannibal, 134 
Harpoot, 48 
Hatti Humayoun, 72 
Hatti Sherif, 71 
Herodotus, 133 
Herzegovina, 183 
Hughes, 89 

Humanity, Preface, 1, 33, 123, 
127, 129 



Kallay, M. de, 84 
Kermanshah, 46 
Khrimian, Catholicos, 138 

Motto on Title-page 
Khoshab, Castle, 50 
Knapp, Attack on, 157 
Koran. See Mohammedanism 
Kurdistan 

Country, 46 

Kurds, 48-52 

"Hamidieh" Troops, 1-30, 
126 

Outrages, 54-69, 157-164 



Ibrahim Pasha, 71 
Identical Note, 76 
"Illuminator," 53, 137, 138. 

See Armenian Church 
Imperial Rescript, 71 



Latham, 96 
Layard, 96, 99 
Lebanon, 93 
Leon VI., 136 
Lloyd, Consul-Gen., 66 



1 7 8 



General Index. 



M 

MacCall, Canon, 72 
MacGahan, 96, 103 
Malatiah, 46 
Mamelukes, 136 
Maronites, 99 
Massacres in Turkey 
Greek (1822), 96-98 
Nestorian (1850), 96, 99 
Syrian (i860), 96, 99 
Cretan (1867), 104 
Bulgarian (1876), 96, 101 
Armenian (1877), 105-107 
Yezidi (1892), 108 
Armenian (1894), Chap. I. 
Victims, Dedication 
Evidence, 1-42 
Uncalled for, 21, 23, 26, 36 
Premeditated, 17, 18 
Ordered, 7, 12, 14, 20, 28-30 
Long Duration, 21,31 
Number Slain, n, 15, 24 
Manner, 20-23, 26, 31 
Violation of Women, 15,22, 

27, 28, 39, 41 
Denials, 12, 25, 27 
Concealment, n-15, 29-34, 

40 
Commission of Inquiry, Pref- 
ace, 103 
Gladstone's Opinion, 121— 125 
Midhat Pasha, 86 
Missions. See Americans 

Other Missions, 149 
Mohammedanism 

Founder, no, 125 
Koran, 89, 99, in, 115 
Exclusive, 115, 116 
Spirit, 22, 74, 89, no, 167 



Rationalistic Types, 116 
" Tolerance," 42, 71, 74, 84, 

107, 114, 127, 169 
Converts from, 68, 114 
Union with State, 111, 119 
Moosh, 43 

MORFILL, 69 

Mosul, 48, 58 

N 

Nebuchadnezzar, 53 
Nestorians, 54, 89, See Mas- 
sacres 
Norman, 52, 85, 104 

O 

Ordos, 70 

Ottoman. See Turkey 



PagratiD/E, 134 
Parry, 107 
Parthians, 53, 134 
Persia, 6, 43, 48, 53 
Phil-Armenic, 69 
Pope, 88 
Porte Sublime 

See Sultan of Turkey 
Powers, European 

Attitude, Preface, 67, 76, 81, 

99. io 4 

Responsibility, 33, 41, 69, 

88, 119, 122 
Protestants 
Origin, 153 
Number, 150 
Success, 147-154 
Hostility to, 58, 71, 155 



General Index, 



179 



R 



Raynolds, Attack on, 157, 163 
Register, The Christian, 127 
Religion 

Classification by, 152 
Freedom of , 70-75, 110-120, 

169 
See Mohammedanism, Tur- 
key 
Review of Reviews, Preface 
Robert College, 115, 149, 155 
Rolin-Jaequemyns, 78, 112 
Romans, 53 

Rupenian Dynasty, 136, 144 
Russia 

Attitude, 53, 68, 104, 168 
Feeling toward, 45, 52, 68, 
73,8i 



Saladin, 48 

Saracen, 53 

Sassanid^, 134 

Schuyler, Eugene, 96, 101 

Seljuk, 53, 136 

Seleucid/e, 133 

Shah, 48 

Shaw, Dr. Albert, 7 

Siouffi, 107 

Smith, R. Bosworth, in 

Stamboul, 70 

Stein, Robert, 96 

Stevenson, Preface, 121 

Stillman, 104 

Stratford de Redcliffe, 
Lord, 69, 109 

Strong, Dr. Josiah, Introduc- 
tion 



Sublime Porte, 90-94, 155 
Sultan 

Mohammed II, 87, 152 
Selim I, 88 
Mahmond, 97 
Medjid, 71, 72 
Abd-id-Hamid, Preface 
Sincerity, 13, 87, 91, 155 
Helplessness, 88 
Isolation, 124 
Absolutism, 90-94 
Syrian, 89, 96, 100 
See Massacres 



Tacitus, 134 
Tamerlane, 136 
Tigranes II., 134 
Times, The London, 104, 127 
Tozer, 136 
Treaties, Chapter iv. 
Adrianople, 70 
Berlin, 69, 73, 76-81, 112 
Cyprus, Preface, 73, 76 
Paris, 72 
Trebizond, 12, 43, 113 
Turkey 

Americans in. See Ameri- 
cans, United States 
Antecedents, 1 17-120, 124, 

127 
Attitude, Preface, 81 
Future, 108-109, 120, 127- 
130 
Government 

Administration, II, 35, 46, 

74, 109, 123, 128, 153 
Courts, 41, 65, 74, 112 
Divided, 92 



i8o 



General Index, 



Turkey — Con tin ued 

Favors Kurds, 17, 20, 30, 

62 
Hostile to Christians, 10-41, 

53, 66, 89, 100, 110-120, 

153 
Reports, 48, 67 
Union with Islam, 111 
Massacres. See Massacres 
Moslem Races, 86, 90 
Reform, 10, 70-75, 83, 88, 

94, 109, 117-120, 129 
Treaties. See Treaties 
Taxation, 16, 27, 34, 49, 59- 

62 
Travel, 43, 131 
Turks, 46, 86 



V 

Van, 37, 43, 49 

Governor of, 19, 64 
Violation of Women, 15, 22, 

27, 28, 39, 41, 98, 101, 105- 

107, 129 

W 

Wallace, Gen. Lewis, 157-162 
Washburn, Prest. George, 115 
Wilson, Consul-Gen., 73, 112, 
114 

X 

Xenophon, 133 
Xerxes, 53 



U 



United States 

Attitude, Introduction, Pref- 
ace 
Consulates, 66, 163 
Diplomacy, 157 
Armenians in, 45 



Yezidi Massacre, 106 

YURUK, 98 



Zeibek, 83, 98 
Zekki Pasha, 21 
Zoroastrians, 134 



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